What is Retool?

Retool is a bot in the AI assistants and agents category, operated by Retool.

Bot name
Retool
Operator
Retool
Type
Bot
Respects robots.txt
Not confirmed
robots.txt user agent
Retool
Signs requests (Web Bot Auth)
No

About Retool

Retool platform user agent

AI assistants fetch pages on demand when a user asks a chatbot or an agent to read, summarise or act on a URL. Each request is tied to a person, but the visit carries no ad impressions or analytics. Decide per agent whether the value is worth the load.

Retool user agent

Retool identifies itself with this user agent string:

  • Retool/2.0 (+https://docs.tryretool.com/docs/apis)

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 Retool in robots.txt

We have not confirmed whether Retool 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.

Block Retool from the whole site

User-agent: Retool
Disallow: /

Block Retool from some folders

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

Allow Retool only on some folders

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

Allow Retool and block other crawlers

User-agent: Retool
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: Retool group, Retool ignores your User-agent: * rules, so repeat any that should still apply.
  • The user agent name is not case sensitive. We take Retool from Retool's user agent; check Retool'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. Retool may not follow the rule. robots.txt is a request that nothing enforces, and we have not confirmed that Retool follows it. Check your logs after adding a rule.
  2. The user agent could be fake. robots.txt matches the name a request claims. Anyone can send Retool's user agent, and a scraper using it is not bound by Retool's robots.txt policy. Only checking the source network tells a real Retool from a fake one.

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

Who should care about Retool

Publishers

Retool reads pages for a person who asked an AI about them. The visit carries no ad impressions, so exclude it from ad requests and decide whether it may read paywalled content.

Transfon Security for publishers

Media buyers and advertisers

Agent visits can click through landing pages and fill in forms. Exclude Retool from conversions so campaign optimisation is based on people.

Transfon Security for advertisers

E-commerce

Agents like Retool can compare prices and may soon place orders. Decide whether agents may reach checkout, and verify them before they do.

Transfon Security for e-commerce

SaaS and APIs

Retool can sign up, log in and call endpoints on a user's behalf. Rate limit it on sign-up and API routes, where fake trials and abuse start.

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block Retool with Transfon Security

robots.txt is a request, not an enforcement. Transfon Security shows Retool 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 Retool on your site

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Retool?

Retool is a bot in the AI assistants and agents category, operated by Retool. Retool platform user agent

Does Retool respect robots.txt?

We have not confirmed whether Retool 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.

How do I block Retool?

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

Is robots.txt enough to block Retool?

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

Should I block Retool?

AI assistants fetch pages on demand when a user asks a chatbot or an agent to read, summarise or act on a URL. Each request is tied to a person, but the visit carries no ad impressions or analytics. Decide per agent whether the value is worth the load.

Related bots

All AI assistants and agents · 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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