What is Cotoyogi?

Cotoyogi is a bot in the AI crawlers category, operated by Research Organization of Information and Systems.

Bot name
Cotoyogi
Operator
Research Organization of Information and Systems
Category
AI Crawlers
Type
Bot
Respects robots.txt
Yes
robots.txt user agent
Cotoyogi
Signs requests (Web Bot Auth)
No

About Cotoyogi

By providing a centralized management environment for content and models, we will build a framework that promotes both data utilization and research and development of AI technology, and realize the following functions as Japan's future information infrastructure.

AI crawlers collect web pages in bulk to build training data for large language models and other AI systems. They take content without sending visitors back. Most publishers block them in robots.txt or at the WAF unless they have a licensing deal with the operator.

Cotoyogi user agent

Cotoyogi identifies itself with this user agent string:

  • Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Cotoyogi/4.0; +https://ds.rois.ac.jp/center8/crawler/)

Anyone can copy a user agent string. Transfon Security also checks where each request comes from, so a request that claims to be a known crawler but comes from the wrong network is treated as a fake, not as the real crawler.

How to block Cotoyogi in robots.txt

Cotoyogi follows robots.txt, so these rules stop it crawling the paths you choose. robots.txt is a plain text file at the root of your domain, such as https://example.com/robots.txt.

Block Cotoyogi from the whole site

User-agent: Cotoyogi
Disallow: /

Block Cotoyogi from some folders

User-agent: Cotoyogi
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /search

Allow Cotoyogi only on some folders

User-agent: Cotoyogi
Allow: /blog/
Disallow: /

Allow Cotoyogi and block other crawlers

User-agent: Cotoyogi
Allow: /

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

Things to know

  • Each host needs its own file. Rules on www.example.com do not apply to shop.example.com.
  • A crawler obeys only the most specific group that names it. Once you add a User-agent: Cotoyogi group, Cotoyogi ignores your User-agent: * rules, so repeat any that should still apply.
  • The user agent name is not case sensitive. We take Cotoyogi from Cotoyogi's user agent; check Research Organization of Information and Systems's own documentation if it publishes a different robots.txt name.
  • Crawlers cache robots.txt, so changes can take up to a day to apply. Disallow stops crawling but does not remove pages already collected or indexed.

Limits of robots.txt

  1. Cotoyogi may not follow the rule. Cotoyogi says it follows robots.txt, but nothing enforces that. Changes can take a day to apply, the operator can change its policy, and other crawlers from Research Organization of Information and Systems use different names and rules.
  2. The user agent could be fake. robots.txt matches the name a request claims. Anyone can send Cotoyogi's user agent, and a scraper using it is not bound by Research Organization of Information and Systems's robots.txt policy. Only checking the source network tells a real Cotoyogi from a fake one.

Treat robots.txt as a statement of your policy, and enforce it where requests arrive.

Who should care about Cotoyogi

Publishers

Cotoyogi takes articles for AI training without sending readers back, and its page loads count as invalid traffic if your ad tags fire. Decide whether to license, limit or block it, and keep it out of ad requests.

Transfon Security for publishers

Media buyers and advertisers

Visits from Cotoyogi to your landing pages are not people. Keep them out of conversion, retargeting and audience data so you do not pay to reach a crawler.

Transfon Security for advertisers

E-commerce

Cotoyogi can copy product descriptions, prices and reviews in bulk. Allow it on pages you want AI models to know about and block it on search, cart and account pages.

Transfon Security for e-commerce

SaaS and APIs

Cotoyogi can fetch documentation and public app pages at scale. Rate limit it so it does not slow the product for paying users.

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block Cotoyogi with Transfon Security

robots.txt is a request, not an enforcement. Transfon Security shows Cotoyogi by name in the Top Bots report, so you can see how often it visits and which pages it reads. Block or allow it with a User Agent rule, or slow it down with a rate limit decision rule.

Transfon Security

Control Cotoyogi on your site

  • See every Cotoyogi visit and the pages it reads
  • Spot bots that fake trusted crawler names
  • Block, allow or rate limit Cotoyogi with one rule
  • Works with or without robots.txt support

Frequently asked questions

What is Cotoyogi?

Cotoyogi is a bot in the AI crawlers category, operated by Research Organization of Information and Systems. By providing a centralized management environment for content and models, we will build a framework that promotes both data utilization and research and development of AI technology, and realize the following functions as Japan's future information infrastructure.

Does Cotoyogi respect robots.txt?

Yes. Cotoyogi follows robots.txt, so a Disallow rule for the Cotoyogi user agent stops it from crawling the paths you list.

How do I block Cotoyogi?

Add "User-agent: Cotoyogi" followed by "Disallow: /" to the robots.txt file at the root of your site. To enforce it, block requests whose user agent contains "Cotoyogi/" at your WAF. In Transfon Security that is one User Agent block rule.

Is robots.txt enough to block Cotoyogi?

No. robots.txt is voluntary, so Cotoyogi may not follow it, and anyone can send Cotoyogi's user agent, so a fake Cotoyogi ignores your rule. Enforce the rule where requests arrive, at your WAF, and check the source network.

Should I block Cotoyogi?

AI crawlers collect web pages in bulk to build training data for large language models and other AI systems. They take content without sending visitors back. Most publishers block them in robots.txt or at the WAF unless they have a licensing deal with the operator.

Related bots

All AI crawlers · Full bot directory

See Which Bots Visit Your Site

Transfon Security identifies every bot in this directory in your traffic reports, flags fake search crawlers, and lets you allow, block or rate limit each bot.

Stay ahead of the publishing curve

Privacy, security, monetization, and performance insights. A few emails a month, no spam.

By subscribing you agree to our privacy policy.