Overview
redditbot is a link preview bot from Reddit used for link unfurling, rich-card generation, social previews, messaging previews, and page metadata fetching.
Its primary user-agent pattern is redditbot; related patterns include redditbot/1.0; Reddit preview bot; Reddit link unfurler; a representative HTTP user-agent is Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; redditbot/1.0; +http://www.reddit.com/feedback).
redditbot is not independently verified with Medium confidence. The identity type is Observed, and the evidence basis is observed traffic evidence with a supporting public reference.
Robots.txt behavior is not currently confirmed.
redditbot should be reviewed against site policy, source evidence, crawl rate, and requested paths before a permanent allow or block rule is created.
Identity
- User-Agent Pattern
-
redditbot - Aliases
- redditbot/1.0; Reddit preview bot; Reddit link unfurler
- HTTP Agent Examples
-
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; redditbot/1.0; +http://www.reddit.com/feedback) - Robots Token
- redditbot
- Identity Type
- Observed
- Evidence Method
- Verify redditbot by matching `redditbot` to Reddit evidence, then checking reverse DNS, source-network ownership, signed request data, or published crawler documentation when available.
Classification
- Type
- Preview
- Kind
- Preview
- Family
- Purpose
- Preview
Behavior and handling
- Common Use
- redditbot is used for link unfurling, rich-card generation, social previews, messaging previews, and page metadata fetching.
- Detection Notes
- redditbot traffic is primarily detected by the `redditbot` user-agent pattern; related patterns include `redditbot/1.0; Reddit preview bot; Reddit link unfurler`; a representative HTTP user-agent is `Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; redditbot/1.0; +http://www.reddit.com/feedback)`. Compare source IPs, reverse DNS, request paths, and crawl cadence with Reddit infrastructure before trusting the traffic.
- Respects robots.txt
- Unknown
- Spoofing Risk
- redditbot has medium spoofing risk because user-agent strings can be copied; pair the match with DNS, IP, behavior, or operator evidence.
- Risk
- Neutral
- Recommended Handling
- Depends
Rules and controls
- Robots.txt Snippet
-
# robots.txt behavior is unconfirmed. Do not rely on this rule without verification.
Relationships
- Operator
- Reddit Checked 2026-06-22
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.