What is PostmanRuntime?

PostmanRuntime is a bot in the HTTP clients and libraries category, operated by Postman.

Bot name
PostmanRuntime
Operator
Postman
Type
Bot
Respects robots.txt
No
robots.txt user agent
PostmanRuntime
Signs requests (Web Bot Auth)
No

About PostmanRuntime

PostmanRuntime is the user agent of Postman, an API development tool. Requests with it usually come from developers testing an API or from automated Postman monitors.

HTTP clients are programming libraries and command line tools. Developers use them for scripts, integrations and scrapers. Real browsers never send these user agents, so treat them as automated traffic and block them on pages meant for people.

PostmanRuntime user agent

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 PostmanRuntime in robots.txt

PostmanRuntime does not read robots.txt. The rules below record your policy, but they will not stop it. To actually block PostmanRuntime, use a WAF rule as shown in the next section.

Block PostmanRuntime from the whole site

User-agent: PostmanRuntime
Disallow: /

Block PostmanRuntime from some folders

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

Allow PostmanRuntime only on some folders

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

Allow PostmanRuntime and block other crawlers

User-agent: PostmanRuntime
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: PostmanRuntime group, PostmanRuntime ignores your User-agent: * rules, so repeat any that should still apply.
  • The user agent name is not case sensitive. We take PostmanRuntime from PostmanRuntime's user agent; check Postman'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. PostmanRuntime may not follow the rule. PostmanRuntime does not read robots.txt at all, so a rule for it has no effect.
  2. The user agent could be fake. robots.txt matches the name a request claims. Anyone can send PostmanRuntime's user agent, and a scraper using it is not bound by Postman's robots.txt policy. Only checking the source network tells a real PostmanRuntime from a fake one.

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

Who should care about PostmanRuntime

Publishers

PostmanRuntime is a common tool for scrapers. Real readers never use it, so block it on article pages and keep it out of ad requests.

Transfon Security for publishers

Media buyers and advertisers

Traffic from PostmanRuntime on landing pages is automated. It inflates clicks and visits, so filter it from campaign data and raise it with the ad network.

Transfon Security for advertisers

E-commerce

Price scrapers, stock checkers and card testing scripts often run on PostmanRuntime. Block it on product, cart and checkout pages.

Transfon Security for e-commerce

SaaS and APIs

PostmanRuntime is normal for API clients but not for your web app. Allow it only on API routes that need a key, and rate limit it there.

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block PostmanRuntime with Transfon Security

PostmanRuntime ignores robots.txt, so it has to be stopped when the request arrives. Transfon Security shows PostmanRuntime 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 PostmanRuntime on your site

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

Frequently asked questions

What is PostmanRuntime?

PostmanRuntime is a bot in the HTTP clients and libraries category, operated by Postman. PostmanRuntime is the user agent of Postman, an API development tool. Requests with it usually come from developers testing an API or from automated Postman monitors.

Does PostmanRuntime respect robots.txt?

No. PostmanRuntime does not follow robots.txt, so a Disallow rule will not stop it. Block it by user agent at your server, CDN or WAF instead.

How do I block PostmanRuntime?

Block requests whose user agent contains "PostmanRuntime" at your server, CDN or WAF, because PostmanRuntime does not read robots.txt. In Transfon Security that is one User Agent block rule.

Is robots.txt enough to block PostmanRuntime?

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

Should I block PostmanRuntime?

HTTP clients are programming libraries and command line tools. Developers use them for scripts, integrations and scrapers. Real browsers never send these user agents, so treat them as automated traffic and block them on pages meant for people.

Related bots

All HTTP clients and libraries · 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.

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