---
schema_version: "newruntime-reader-dossiers-v1"
type: "reader_dossier"
slug: "perplexitybot"
kind: "ai_answer"
operator: "Perplexity"
researched_at: "2026-10-23"
confidence: "high"
json_url: "https://newruntime.com/readers/perplexitybot.json"
canonical_url: "https://newruntime.com/readers/perplexitybot/"
---

# PerplexityBot / Perplexity-User

> PerplexityBot surfaces and links websites in Perplexity search results and is not used to crawl content for AI foundation models. The separate Perplexity-User fetcher opens pages on user request to answer a question and link the page.

## Dossier

- Kind: AI search & answer engines
- Operator: Perplexity (https://www.perplexity.ai/)
- Documentation: https://docs.perplexity.ai/guides/bots
- robots.txt tokens: PerplexityBot, Perplexity-User
- Feeds: search index, live answer fetch
- Respects robots.txt: Partly, per its documentation. PerplexityBot follows robots.txt; Perplexity-User 'generally ignores robots.txt rules' because a user requested the fetch. Changes take up to 24h.
- Verification: Published IP ranges (https://www.perplexity.com/perplexitybot.json)
- Labels matched in our logs: perplexitybot, perplexity-user

## Why it matters to New Runtime (our interpretation)

PerplexityBot decides whether Perplexity can cite New Runtime; Perplexity-User hits (IPs: perplexity.com/perplexity-user.json) are live answer reads.

## Observed behaviour

- Baseline 2026-10-23 (93-day window): 4,689 requests on 40 days; first seen 2026-07-23, last seen 2026-10-23; Returning.
- Reading mix (crawler journeys): 1,294 content reads, 11 feed or discovery reads, 0 machine-consumption reads; 806 unique materials.
- Identity check: verified 1,982, claimed unverified 2 requests.
- Live numbers: https://newruntime.com/bot-traffic-history.json and https://newruntime.com/crawler-journeys.json

## Sources

- https://docs.perplexity.ai/guides/bots

Identity: A family name is what a client claims in its user agent. It is verified only when its request came from the operator's published IP ranges or passed forward-confirmed reverse DNS, as reported per family in /crawler-journeys.json. Anyone can claim any name.

All dossiers: https://newruntime.com/readers.md