robots.txt Generator
Build a correct robots.txt with presets, per-crawler rules, and a warning for anything that blocks your whole site.
Also known as: Robots file generator, Crawler rules generator, SEO robots.txt builder
How it works
- 1Start from a preset — allow everything, block everything, or block common admin paths.
- 2Add or edit user-agent rule groups with custom Allow and Disallow paths.
- 3Optionally add your sitemap URL and a crawl-delay.
- 4Copy the generated robots.txt and upload it to your site's root directory (e.g. example.com/robots.txt).
Why use robots.txt Generator
Blocks-everything warning
Automatically flags any rule group that would accidentally block a crawler from your entire site.
Quick presets
Start from allow-everything, block-everything, or block-common-admin-paths instead of writing rules from scratch.
Per-crawler rule groups
Add separate Allow/Disallow rules for different user-agents when you need to target specific crawlers.
Sitemap directive included
Add your sitemap URL directly, pointing crawlers to your full page list.
Correct, standard syntax
Generates properly formatted robots.txt syntax that follows the standard crawlers expect.
Nothing uploaded
The entire file is generated locally in your browser.
Who uses robots.txt Generator
Launching a new website
Generate a correct robots.txt before going live instead of leaving crawler access unconfigured.
Blocking a staging or dev site
Use the block-everything preset to keep search engines from indexing a non-production environment.
Hiding admin or internal paths
Keep login pages, admin panels, and internal tools out of search results without hiding them from users.
Auditing an existing robots.txt
Rebuild your current rules here to check for an accidental site-wide block before it costs you traffic.
Pointing crawlers to your sitemap
Add a Sitemap directive so crawlers can discover your full set of pages more efficiently.
Setting different rules for different bots
Allow general search crawlers while restricting a specific aggressive or unwanted crawler.
About robots.txt Generator
robots.txt looks simple, but it's also one of the easiest files to get catastrophically wrong — a single misplaced "Disallow: /" can silently tell every search engine to stop crawling an entire website, sometimes for weeks before anyone notices the traffic drop. Because the syntax is unforgiving plain text with no validation built into most CMSs, this file is worth generating carefully rather than editing freely by hand.
This tool starts with three common presets — allow everything, block everything (useful for a staging or development site), and block common admin paths — that can be used as-is or edited further. Beyond the presets, you can add any number of user-agent rule groups, each with its own Allow and Disallow path lists, to target specific crawlers differently if needed.
The built-in warning system specifically checks for the most common costly mistake: a rule group that disallows "/" with no matching Allow rule, which blocks that entire crawler from the whole site. This is exactly the kind of error that's easy to introduce by accident and expensive to leave unnoticed.
The generator also supports an optional Sitemap directive (pointing crawlers to your XML sitemap) and a Crawl-delay directive for crawlers that respect it. Everything is generated instantly in your browser as you edit — there's no server involved, and no limit on how many times you can regenerate it.
robots.txt Generator vs. other options
How Open Tools Library compares to desktop software and other online tools.
| Feature | Open Tools Library | Desktop software | Other online tools |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, unlimited | N/A | Usually free |
| Blocks-everything warning | Built in | N/A | Rarely included |
| Multiple user-agent groups | Yes, unlimited | N/A | Often limited |
| Presets included | 3 built in | N/A | Varies |
| Data privacy | Never leaves your device | N/A | Usually fine, but varies |
Pro tips
- robots.txt only controls crawling, not indexing — a page can still appear in search results if it's linked from elsewhere, even if it's disallowed here. Use a noindex meta tag for that instead.
- robots.txt must be placed at the exact root of your domain (example.com/robots.txt) — it won't work in a subfolder.
- A blank Disallow line ("Disallow:") means "disallow nothing," which is functionally the same as allowing everything for that user-agent.
- Most major search engines respect robots.txt, but it's a voluntary standard — it won't stop a determined bad actor from accessing disallowed paths.
- Test a new robots.txt in a search engine's own robots-testing tool after publishing, since the consequences of a mistake here can be significant.
Technical specs
- Presets
- Allow everything, block everything, block common admin paths
- Rule structure
- Per-user-agent Allow/Disallow path lists
- Extras
- Sitemap directive, Crawl-delay directive
- Safety check
- Warns on any rule that blocks an entire crawler
- Processing location
- 100% local, in your browser
Privacy & security
Configuring how crawlers access your site shouldn't require sending your site's structure to a third party.
The entire robots.txt file is built locally using plain text logic — nothing is transmitted anywhere.
No account, email, or login required.
Nothing you enter is stored or logged.
The blocks-everything check runs locally too, with no data leaving your browser.
Frequently asked questions
Is this tool free to use?
Yes, completely free with no limits, and no account needed.
How is my data handled?
The file is generated entirely in your browser — nothing about your site's structure is sent anywhere.
Is robots.txt required for every website?
No — if you don't provide one, most crawlers will simply assume everything is allowed. It's still a best practice for controlling crawl behavior and pointing to your sitemap.
Can robots.txt block a specific file type?
Yes — a Disallow rule can target a path pattern, such as blocking a specific folder, though full wildcard pattern support varies slightly by crawler.
What does Crawl-delay do?
It asks compliant crawlers to wait a specified number of seconds between requests to reduce server load — not all crawlers respect this directive (notably, Google does not).
Troubleshooting
I'm seeing a warning about blocking my entire site
This means a rule group has "Disallow: /" with no offsetting Allow rule — that tells the matching crawler(s) not to access any page on your site. Add specific paths instead if you only meant to block part of the site.
Where do I put the generated file?
robots.txt must be uploaded to the exact root of your domain, so it's reachable at https://yourdomain.com/robots.txt — not in any subfolder.
Does this stop my pages from appearing in Google?
robots.txt controls crawling, not indexing directly — a disallowed page can sometimes still appear in search results (usually without a description) if it's linked from elsewhere. Use a noindex meta tag if you need a page fully excluded.
Can I have different rules for Googlebot vs other crawlers?
Yes — add a separate rule group with "Googlebot" (or any other specific crawler name) as the user-agent, alongside or instead of the wildcard "*" group.
Related searches
Landed here looking for something worded a little differently? robots.txt Generator covers all of these too:
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