AI search index, run by Exa.

What is ExaSearchBot? Exa's crawler for AI search answers. It can't be verified beyond its name.

Run by Exa, which documents it.
Purpose: AI search index. A visit means your page is being added to, or refreshed in, an index that AI answers draw on.
robots.txt name: ExaSearchBot.
Name only: no published list to check a visit against.

At a glance, the facts in one table.

ExaSearchBot at a glance. Taken from SenseGap's open bot directory, the same data that sorts every visit in the dashboard.

ExaSearchBot facts
	ExaSearchBot
Operator	Exa
Purpose	AI search index
User agent contains	`ExaSearchBot`, `ExaBot`
robots.txt name	`ExaSearchBot`
Verification	Name only
Documentation	crawler.exa.ai

Purpose, what it does and why it came.

What ExaSearchBot does. SenseGap sorts every visit by purpose. ExaSearchBot is in the AI search index group.

ExaSearchBot is Exa's crawler that builds the index Exa uses to find pages for AI search answers.

What a visit means

A visit means your page is being added to, or refreshed in, an index that AI answers draw on. Nobody asked a question at that moment; it is preparation for future answers.

Detection, the header SenseGap matches.

How SenseGap recognizes ExaSearchBot. By its User-Agent header. A separate check then decides whether the visit is real.

Every request carries a User-Agent header naming the software that sent it. SenseGap counts a request as ExaSearchBot when that header contains any of ExaSearchBot or ExaBot, in any letter case. The header is plain text, so any script can copy it. Matching the name is where recognition starts, not where trust starts.

Pattern matched against User-Agent

/ExaSearchBot|ExaBot/i

Verification, how to tell a real visit from a fake.

ExaSearchBot can't be fully verified. SenseGap knows of no published IP ranges or DNS names for it, so the name is all there is.

How we verify bots

What this means

Not beyond the user agent. SenseGap knows of no published IP ranges or DNS names for ExaSearchBot, so anyone can send its name. SenseGap marks these visits Unverified rather than calling them real.

robots.txt, rules you can copy.

Block or allow ExaSearchBot in robots.txt. Its robots.txt name is ExaSearchBot. Paste a group into the robots.txt at your site's root.

Block the whole site

User-agent: ExaSearchBot
Disallow: /

Allow the whole site

User-agent: ExaSearchBot
Allow: /

Block one folder

User-agent: ExaSearchBot
Disallow: /private/

One rule catches people out. Under the robots.txt standard (RFC 9309), a crawler that finds a group naming it follows only that group and ignores your User-agent: * rules. If you add a ExaSearchBot group, repeat in it anything from the catch-all group you still want applied.

robots.txt is a request, not a lock. To enforce a block, match the User-Agent header at your server or CDN. In nginx:

Enforce it at the server

# nginx, inside a server block
if ($http_user_agent ~* "ExaSearchBot|ExaBot") {
    return 403;
}

SenseGap reads your robots.txt and shows, bot by bot, what you allow and which bots fetched pages you disallowed. See what you get.

Trade-off, what blocking changes.

Should you block ExaSearchBot? It depends on what you want from Exa. Here is what each choice means.

If you allow it
Your pages can be found, cited and linked in that company's AI answers.
If you block it
Your pages become less likely to appear, or to be described accurately, in that company's AI answers.

AI search index, other bots with the same job.

Other AI search crawlers. Same purpose, different companies.

Browse the directory

FAQ, ExaSearchBot in short answers.

ExaSearchBot, answered plainly