What is bnf.fr_bot?
bnf.fr_bot is the official web crawler of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF), systematically collecting and archiving digital content from French websites to preserve France's national documentary heritage. You can set up Agent Analytics to see when bnf.fr_bot visits your website.
Category
| Example User Agent | Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; bnf.fr_bot; +https://www.bnf.fr/fr/capture-de-votre-site-web-par-le-robot-de-la-bnf) |
| Operated By | Bibliothèque nationale de France |
| Source | Official Website |
| Triggered By | Automated crawl |
| Used for AI Model Training | Not expected |
| Affects AI Chat & Search Visibility | Not directly |
| Expected To Follow Robots.txt | Yes |
Why Is bnf.fr_bot Visiting My Website?
bnf.fr_bot is preserving your pages as part of a historical record. It returns periodically so the archive can capture how your content changes over time.
Should I Block bnf.fr_bot?
Rarely. bnf.fr_bot preserves snapshots of your pages through redesigns, migrations, and broken links. Blocking it prevents future captures but does not remove existing snapshots. To remove those, you must contact the archive directly. For context, 7% of the top websites we track currently have robots.txt rules for bnf.fr_bot.
How Do I Block bnf.fr_bot Using Robots.txt?
Add this rule to your robots.txt file to block bnf.fr_bot from accessing your website, or use Automatic Robots.txt to block all archivers at once. You can customize which pages are blocked by swapping out / for a different path.
User-agent: bnf.fr_bot # https://knownagents.com/agents/bnf-fr-bot
Disallow: /Insights for bnf.fr_bot
As of October 30, 2026, this data reflects agent visits measured across thousands of websites using Agent Analytics, combined with daily scans of the top 1000 websites and their robots.txt files.
Robots.txt Compliance
Country of Origin
Robots.txt Blocked Percentage
Frequently Asked Questions
What Traffic Patterns Should I Expect From bnf.fr_bot?
bnf.fr_bot periodically fetches complete pages rather than checking metadata alone. Visit frequency typically rises with your site's popularity and update cadence.
Does bnf.fr_bot Follow Robots.txt Rules?
bnf.fr_bot is expected to follow robots.txt rules, so a disallow rule is the appropriate first step if you want to block it. Automatic Robots.txt can add and maintain that rule, while Agent Analytics lets you verify whether bnf.fr_bot respects it.
Is bnf.fr_bot Used for AI Model Training?
Not ordinarily. bnf.fr_bot is not categorized as an AI training scraper or data provider, so AI model training is not its expected purpose.
Does Blocking bnf.fr_bot Affect AI Search or Citations?
Not directly. bnf.fr_bot's expected purpose is not to supply an AI search index or retrieve pages for AI-generated answers.
Does bnf.fr_bot Access Private Content?
No. bnf.fr_bot archives only what an anonymous visitor can see. Anything public at crawl time may remain available in its archive long after you remove it from your site.
How Can I Verify a Request From bnf.fr_bot?
Agent Analytics tracks bnf.fr_bot visits in real time. You can also check your server logs for requests whose user-agent string contains "bnf.fr_bot". Look for a page and its embedded assets being fetched again after a long interval. Because bnf.fr_bot does not publish a verification method, any client can claim its identity and a log match is only a clue.
How Is bnf.fr_bot Different From Other Bibliothèque nationale de France Agents?
Bibliothèque nationale de France operates separate agents for different purposes, so each agent should be evaluated and controlled independently.
- Bibliotheque Nacional de France Crawler: Bibliotheque Nacional de France Crawler is an uncategorized agent operated by Bibliothèque nationale de France.