What is Rss2tgBot?

Rss2tgBot is a bot in the feed fetchers category, operated by Yellow Rubber Duck Consulting.

Bot name
Rss2tgBot
Operator
Yellow Rubber Duck Consulting
Type
Bot
Respects robots.txt
Not confirmed
robots.txt user agent
rss2tg
Signs requests (Web Bot Auth)
No

About Rss2tgBot

A notification RSS bot for Telegram instant messenger

Feed fetchers poll RSS and Atom feeds for readers, aggregators and podcast apps. They usually request feeds only, so they are cheap to allow. Watch for fetchers that pull full pages at high rates.

Rss2tgBot user agent

Rss2tgBot identifies itself with this user agent string:

  • Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; rss2tg bot; +http://komar.in/en/rss2tg_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 Rss2tgBot in robots.txt

We have not confirmed whether Rss2tgBot 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 Rss2tgBot from the whole site

User-agent: rss2tg
Disallow: /

Block Rss2tgBot from some folders

User-agent: rss2tg
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /search

Allow Rss2tgBot only on some folders

User-agent: rss2tg
Allow: /blog/
Disallow: /

Allow Rss2tgBot and block other crawlers

User-agent: rss2tg
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: rss2tg group, Rss2tgBot ignores your User-agent: * rules, so repeat any that should still apply.
  • The user agent name is not case sensitive. We take rss2tg from Rss2tgBot's user agent; check Yellow Rubber Duck Consulting'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. Rss2tgBot may not follow the rule. robots.txt is a request that nothing enforces, and we have not confirmed that Rss2tgBot 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 Rss2tgBot's user agent, and a scraper using it is not bound by Yellow Rubber Duck Consulting's robots.txt policy. Only checking the source network tells a real Rss2tgBot from a fake one.

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

Who should care about Rss2tgBot

Publishers

Rss2tgBot fetches pages when your links are shared or syndicated. Keep it allowed so previews and feeds work, but leave it out of page views and ad requests.

Transfon Security for publishers

Media buyers and advertisers

When ads or posts are shared, Rss2tgBot fetches the landing page. Those hits are not clicks, so keep them out of campaign reports.

Transfon Security for advertisers

E-commerce

Product links shared in chats and feeds are fetched by Rss2tgBot. Keep it allowed so previews show the right image and price.

Transfon Security for e-commerce

SaaS and APIs

Allow Rss2tgBot on public pages so shared links preview well, and keep it off the app.

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block Rss2tgBot with Transfon Security

robots.txt is a request, not an enforcement. Transfon Security shows Rss2tgBot 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 Rss2tgBot on your site

  • See every Rss2tgBot visit and the pages it reads
  • Spot bots that fake trusted crawler names
  • Block, allow or rate limit Rss2tgBot with one rule
  • Works with or without robots.txt support

Frequently asked questions

What is Rss2tgBot?

Rss2tgBot is a bot in the feed fetchers category, operated by Yellow Rubber Duck Consulting. A notification RSS bot for Telegram instant messenger

Does Rss2tgBot respect robots.txt?

We have not confirmed whether Rss2tgBot 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 Rss2tgBot?

Add "User-agent: rss2tg" followed by "Disallow: /" to the robots.txt file at the root of your site. To enforce it, block requests whose user agent contains "rss2tg bot" at your WAF. In Transfon Security that is one User Agent block rule.

Is robots.txt enough to block Rss2tgBot?

No. robots.txt is voluntary, so Rss2tgBot may not follow it, and anyone can send Rss2tgBot's user agent, so a fake Rss2tgBot ignores your rule. Enforce the rule where requests arrive, at your WAF, and check the source network.

Should I block Rss2tgBot?

Feed fetchers poll RSS and Atom feeds for readers, aggregators and podcast apps. They usually request feeds only, so they are cheap to allow. Watch for fetchers that pull full pages at high rates.

Related bots

All feed fetchers · 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.