Overview
DealerHandshakeBot is a bounded website-audit crawler operated by Dealer Handshake Inc..
The crawler identifies as DealerHandshakeBot/1.0 (+https://dealerhandshake.com/bot), reads robots.txt, and honors the DealerHandshakeBot group.
Crawler requests are signed with Ed25519 HTTP Message Signatures. The operator publishes the public key material through an HTTP Message Signatures directory, allowing the crawler identity to be verified independently of the user-agent string.
A separate browser-like DealerHandshakeControl/1.0 probe may be used for response comparison; that control request is not the signed crawler identity.
Identity
- User-Agent Pattern
-
DealerHandshakeBot - Aliases
- DealerHandshakeBot/1.0; DealerHandshakeControl/1.0
- HTTP Agent Examples
-
DealerHandshakeBot/1.0 (+https://dealerhandshake.com/bot) - Robots Token
- DealerHandshakeBot
- Identity Type
- Signed agent
- Evidence Method
- Validate the crawler’s Ed25519 HTTP Message Signature against the operator-published key directory, then confirm the `DealerHandshakeBot` user-agent token. The separate control probe is not signed.
Classification
- Type
- Audit
- Kind
- Crawler
- Family
- Dealer Handshake
- Purpose
- AI readiness auditing
Behavior and handling
- Common Use
- Runs bounded dealership website checks to measure machine-readable and AI-assistant accessibility.
- Detection Notes
- Detect the crawler by `DealerHandshakeBot`. A separate `DealerHandshakeControl/1.0` browser-like control probe may appear during a scan. Signed crawler requests carry HTTP Message Signature headers.
- Respects robots.txt
- Yes
- Spoofing Risk
- Low when the HTTP Message Signature validates against the published key directory; high if relying on the user-agent alone.
- Risk
- Neutral
- Recommended Handling
- Depends
Rules and controls
- Robots.txt Snippet
-
User-agent: DealerHandshakeBot Disallow: / - Apache Rule
-
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "DealerHandshakeBot" [NC] RewriteRule ^ - [F,L] - Nginx Rule
-
if ($http_user_agent ~* "DealerHandshakeBot") { return 403; }
Relationships
- Operator
- Dealer Handshake Inc. Checked 2026-09-02
Relationships without an Evidence link are normalized from the canonical directory record. They should not be interpreted as independent proof of physical presence or request origin.