KernelSearch is a bot in the AI search crawlers category, operated by Kernel Technologies, Inc..
Kernel's search crawler that indexes web pages for AI-powered search and retrieval.
AI search crawlers index pages so that AI answer engines can cite and link to them in their responses. Blocking them removes your pages from those answers, so many sites allow them while blocking training crawlers.
KernelSearch identifies itself with this user agent string:
KernelSearchBot/1.0 (+https://www.kernel.sh/docs/bots)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.
We have not confirmed whether KernelSearch follows robots.txt. Add a rule, then check your logs to see that it stopped. robots.txt is a plain text file at the root of your domain, such as https://example.com/robots.txt.
User-agent: KernelSearchBot Disallow: /
User-agent: KernelSearchBot Disallow: /private/ Disallow: /search
User-agent: KernelSearchBot Allow: /blog/ Disallow: /
User-agent: KernelSearchBot Allow: / User-agent: * Disallow: /
User-agent: KernelSearchBot group, KernelSearch ignores your User-agent: * rules, so repeat any that should still apply.KernelSearchBot from KernelSearch's user agent; check Kernel Technologies, Inc.'s own documentation if it publishes a different robots.txt name.Treat robots.txt as a statement of your policy, and enforce it where requests arrive.
KernelSearch decides whether AI answers cite and link your articles. Many publishers allow it while blocking training crawlers, and rate limit it so it does not crowd out readers.
Transfon Security for publishersAI search can send visitors to your landing pages. Keep KernelSearch's own visits out of campaign reports so you can measure the real referrals.
Transfon Security for advertisersBeing indexed by KernelSearch can put your products in AI shopping answers. Allow it on product and category pages, and keep it off cart, checkout and account pages.
Transfon Security for e-commerceLetting KernelSearch index docs and pricing pages helps AI answers describe your product correctly. Keep it away from login and API endpoints.
Transfon Security for SaaS and APIsrobots.txt is a request, not an enforcement. Transfon Security shows KernelSearch 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
KernelSearch is a bot in the AI search crawlers category, operated by Kernel Technologies, Inc.. Kernel's search crawler that indexes web pages for AI-powered search and retrieval.
We have not confirmed whether KernelSearch follows robots.txt. Add a robots.txt rule, then check your logs to see that it stopped, and block it by user agent if it did not.
Add "User-agent: KernelSearchBot" followed by "Disallow: /" to the robots.txt file at the root of your site. To enforce it, block requests whose user agent contains "KernelSearchBot" at your WAF. In Transfon Security that is one User Agent block rule.
No. robots.txt is voluntary, so KernelSearch may not follow it, and anyone can send KernelSearch's user agent, so a fake KernelSearch ignores your rule. Enforce the rule where requests arrive, at your WAF, and check the source network.
AI search crawlers index pages so that AI answer engines can cite and link to them in their responses. Blocking them removes your pages from those answers, so many sites allow them while blocking training crawlers.
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.
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