- Run by
- Slack
- Type
- Link preview bot
- Visits
- When a person does something that needs your page
- robots.txt
- Doesn't follow robots.txt
- Documentation
- Slack's page
What Slackbot does
When someone posts a link in Slack, Slack's link expander fetches as little of the page as it can to read its oEmbed, Twitter Card and Open Graph tags and "unfurl" a preview. Separate Slack agents fetch images through a proxy and make other requests.
- Slack caches each unfurl for about 30 minutes. Source
Does Slackbot follow robots.txt?
No. Slack says it doesn't honor robots.txt, because it acts for a person and doesn't follow links. It says it stopped honoring robots.txt after users complained that much of the web was off-limits.
How to stop Slackbot
Slack offers no self-serve block. You can ask Slack to stop unfurling your site, or block its user agent on your server, which leaves links to your site without a preview.
What blocking Slackbot changes
Links to your site show in Slack without a preview.
Where to see Slackbot visits
Most bots never appear in Google Analytics. Many don't run JavaScript, so the analytics tag never loads, and Google Analytics 4 automatically excludes traffic from known bots and spiders. Your server or CDN logs record every request with its user agent, so search them for the bot's name.
OneLence recognizes Slackbot and keeps it out of your visitor counts. With Premium, bot traffic shows which bots visit your site, how often and what kind they are.
Frequently asked questions
What is Slackbot?
When someone posts a link in Slack, Slack's link expander fetches as little of the page as it can to read its oEmbed, Twitter Card and Open Graph tags and "unfurl" a preview. Separate Slack agents fetch images through a proxy and make other requests.
Does Slackbot follow robots.txt?
No. Slack says it doesn't honor robots.txt, because it acts for a person and doesn't follow links. It says it stopped honoring robots.txt after users complained that much of the web was off-limits.
How do I block Slackbot?
Slack offers no self-serve block. You can ask Slack to stop unfurling your site, or block its user agent on your server, which leaves links to your site without a preview.
What happens if I block Slackbot?
Links to your site show in Slack without a preview.
Why doesn't Slackbot show up in Google Analytics?
Most bots never appear in Google Analytics. Many don't run JavaScript, so the analytics tag never loads, and Google Analytics 4 automatically excludes traffic from known bots and spiders. Your server or CDN logs record every request with its user agent, so search them for the bot's name.