PetalBot: what it is, who runs it, and how to allow or block it

PetalBot is a crawler run by Huawei. It reads pages ahead of time, to train a model or to build an index. Its name in robots.txt, how it shows up in server logs, whether its identity can be checked, and how to allow or refuse it on each platform.

This response

You are ClaudeBot (Anthropic). Citable recognised you as an AI agent, so this is https://getcitable.in/crawlers/petalbot with the UI removed — the content only. A browser asking for the same address gets the full designed page.

What PetalBot is

PetalBot is a crawler run by Huawei. It reads pages ahead of time, to train a model or to build an index.

Should you refuse it?

PetalBot reads ahead of time. Refusing it keeps your pages out of what Huawei collects them for. It does not change how Google or Bing rank you: search crawlers go by other names, with rules of their own.

robots.txt is a request. A crawler that honours it stays out; nothing in the file stops one that does not. What is enforced is what the server or the edge in front of it refuses.

Is a request really PetalBot?

Citable holds no published address list for Huawei, so a read that claims to be PetalBot is recorded as unknown rather than verified. A user agent is a claim, and anyone can send it.

Allowing or refusing PetalBot in robots.txt

Add a group under its name, “User-agent: PetalBot”. “Allow: /” lets it read the site and “Disallow: /” refuses it.

A group that names a crawler replaces the * group for that crawler; it does not add to it. Paths the * group closes are open to a crawler with its own group unless they are repeated there.

Refuse PetalBot:

User-agent: PetalBot
Disallow: /

Allow PetalBot:

User-agent: PetalBot
Allow: /

Where the rule for PetalBot goes, platform by platform

Questions

What is PetalBot?

PetalBot is a crawler run by Huawei. It reads pages ahead of time, to train a model or to build an index.

Who runs PetalBot?

Huawei. It is the only name Citable recognises for Huawei.

How do I allow or block PetalBot in robots.txt?

Add a group under its name, “User-agent: PetalBot”. “Allow: /” lets it read the site and “Disallow: /” refuses it. A group that names a crawler replaces the * group for that crawler; it does not add to it. Paths the * group closes are open to a crawler with its own group unless they are repeated there.

Should I block PetalBot?

PetalBot reads ahead of time. Refusing it keeps your pages out of what Huawei collects them for. It does not change how Google or Bing rank you: search crawlers go by other names, with rules of their own.

How do I see PetalBot in my server logs?

In an access log PetalBot appears as a user agent containing “PetalBot”.

How do I know a request is really PetalBot?

Citable holds no published address list for Huawei, so a read that claims to be PetalBot is recorded as unknown rather than verified. A user agent is a claim, and anyone can send it.

About Citable

Citable strips the UI from a website for AI agents and serves them only the content.

When an AI agent — ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity or any of the 81 that Citable recognises — opens a page, Citable removes the theme, scripts, navigation and layout and serves only the content: the same facts, at the same URL, on the site's own domain. People and Google still get the full designed page.

How it works: https://getcitable.in/how-it-works · Summary for AI agents: https://getcitable.in/llms.txt


Source: https://getcitable.in/crawlers/petalbot · Citable · Run the free audit · llms.txt · getcitable@gmail.com