Operator
Few readable files block Operator in October 2026, at 36 sites or 0.6%. Its operator is unclear in the community reference.
Who runs Operator?
| Fact | Operator reference entry |
|---|---|
| Operator | “Unclear at this time.” |
| Purpose | “AI Agents” |
| Does Operator obey robots.txt? | “Unclear at this time.” |
| Frequency | “Unclear at this time.” |
| Cloudflare managed list for Operator | No |
These facts quote the stored community ai.robots.txt reference.
“Operator is an AI agent created by OpenAI that can use a web browser. It can intelligently navigate and interact with websites to complete multi-step tasks on behalf of a human user.”
The reference places this crawler among AI agents. Using a page as a search result can send people to it. Training models uses its contents for another purpose, which an owner may refuse.
How many sites block it?
The name occurs in 44 out of 6,171 readable files, a 0.7% share. Across the full sample, the whole-site Disallow: / block count is 36, or 0.6%. Files without that ban number 6,135.
From the highest 1,000 ranks, 552 files could be read. Its naming count is 6, or 1.1%, and the block count is 4. Blocking is more common among the leading sites, at 0.7%. Compare 32 blocks among the 5,619 readable files below those ranks, or 0.6%.
| Readable files | Named by | Named share | Blocked by | Blocked share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operator, all ranks | 44 | 0.7% | 36 | 0.6% |
| Operator, top 1,000 | 6 | 1.1% | 4 | 0.7% |
| Operator, remaining ranks | 38 | 0.7% | 32 | 0.6% |
Here, the total counts whole-site blocks recorded for this crawler. It leaves out general User-agent: * instructions. Of 36 blocks, 1 does not also appear in our count of files naming it. We found 35 files naming it and blocking the whole site, along with 9 files naming it without that ban. Another 6,127 files omit the name. We ignore capitalization and repeated names.
How to block or allow it
Add these lines to robots.txt at your site root. For Operator, the robots.txt standard gives a named group priority over User-agent: *.
Block the whole site
User-agent: Operator
Disallow: /Allow access
User-agent: Operator
Allow: /It's the 124th most-named crawler of the 171 we counted in the crawler index.
How we counted
For Operator, we surveyed Tranco’s top 10,000 sites on 19 October 2026. A request timed out after 8 seconds, with files capped at 262,144 bytes. Shares exclude unreachable, unavailable and oversized files. Repeat readings are included, using scripts/robots_2026_08_06.py (robots.py at app commit 07104ff). See the full survey method.
Common questions
Can a file name it and still allow it?
A name identifies the crawler addressed by a group. The survey found 9 files with that name and no recorded whole-site ban, out of 44.
How do the shares compare by rank?
Leading files record 1.1% with the name and 0.7% blocking it. Across all readable files, the corresponding shares are 0.7% and 0.6%.
What other entry is close in the index?
The nearby Google-Firebase entry reports 43 files that name it and 38 whole-site blocks, 0.6% of readable files. Here, 44 files mention the name and 36 block access, or 0.6%.