Google-CloudVertexBot (Google): what it is and how to allow or block it
Updated · checked against the operator's documentation on
Google-CloudVertexBot is Google Cloud's crawler that fetches pages when a site owner asks to build a Vertex AI agent. Its robots.txt token is Google-CloudVertexBot.
Facts
- Operator
- Category
- AI user-triggered fetcher
- robots.txt token
Google-CloudVertexBot
- Honors robots.txt?
- Yes, per Google. Google says its common crawlers always obey robots.txt rules when crawling automatically.
- User-agent example
- Contains
google-cloudvertexbot(the operator documents no full example string)
- User agent we logged
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Google-CloudVertexBot; +https://cloud.google.com/vertex-ai-bot)Most common variant in our own logs, 33 requests, 19 to 25 Oct 2026. Static snapshot, not the live counter below. A logged string is a claim: anyone can send it.
- Official source
- Google: Overview of Google crawlers and fetchers
- Compared with the source
What it is used for
Per Google, it crawls pages when site owners request it, in order to build Vertex AI Agents. It has no effect on Google Search or other Google products.
What happens if you block it
Vertex AI agents can no longer be built from your pages through this crawler. Per Google, Google Search is not affected.
Google lists only the substring Google-CloudVertexBot, not a full user-agent string. A site owner (or a tool acting for one) has to request the crawl, so a visit means somebody asked for it; we cannot tell who. Google's verification page names several IP range files but does not say which crawler is in which file, so check the current page rather than assuming.
Is it really Google-CloudVertexBot?
Anyone can send Google-CloudVertexBot as a user agent, so a log line proves nothing by itself. The way to tell is the requesting IP address.
- Compare the IP address with the Google: Verifying Googlebot (links the IP range files). A request from outside those ranges is not the operator's crawler.
- Paste any user agent from your logs into the user-agent lookup, or follow the scripts in Fake Googlebots and PHP scanners.
How to allow or block Google-CloudVertexBot
Add one of these groups to the robots.txt at the root of your domain. A group that names the bot overrides a general User-agent: * group.
User-agent: Google-CloudVertexBot Allow: /
User-agent: Google-CloudVertexBot Disallow: /
Does your site allow Google-CloudVertexBot today? The checker evaluates your robots.txt for this and every other bot.Check my site
What we see on our own sites
Live counter, last 30 days: no request identifying as Google-CloudVertexBot recorded yet. The counter started after the week below, so it does not cover it. Earlier log snapshot (19 to 25 Oct 2026): 33 requests identified as Google-CloudVertexBot.
Counts come from the websites we operate; they hold no IP addresses or URLs, and a user agent is only a claim. See the bot traffic data and the methodology.
Questions about Google-CloudVertexBot
What is Google-CloudVertexBot?
Google Cloud's crawler that fetches pages when a site owner asks to build a Vertex AI agent. Per Google, it crawls pages when site owners request it, in order to build Vertex AI Agents. It has no effect on Google Search or other Google products.
Is Google-CloudVertexBot safe and legitimate?
The real Google-CloudVertexBot is an AI user-triggered fetcher run by Google. A user-agent string is only a claim, though, so anyone can send it. Compare the requesting IP address with the published IP ranges.
Does Google-CloudVertexBot obey robots.txt?
Yes, per Google. Google says its common crawlers always obey robots.txt rules when crawling automatically.
How do I block Google-CloudVertexBot?
Add a group to the robots.txt at the root of your domain: User-agent: Google-CloudVertexBot followed by Disallow: /. A group that names the bot overrides a general User-agent: * group.
Will blocking Google-CloudVertexBot hurt my Google rankings or AI visibility?
No, per Google: it has no effect on Google Search or other Google products. Blocking it only stops Vertex AI agents from being built from your pages through this crawler.
Related bots
More from Google
- Google-Extended AI control tokenA robots.txt token that lets you manage whether Google may use crawled content for Gemini training and grounding.
- Googlebot Search engine crawlerGoogle's main crawler for Google Search, whose index Google's AI features in Search also draw on.
- Googlebot-Image Search engine crawlerGoogle's crawler for the images that appear in Google Search and related surfaces.
- GoogleOther Special-purpose crawlerGoogle's generic crawler that product teams can use for their own purposes.
Other AI user-triggered fetchers
- ChatGPT-User OpenAIThe fetcher ChatGPT and Custom GPTs use when a person asks them to open a web page.
- Claude-User AnthropicThe agent Claude uses to open a web page when a person asks a question that needs one.
- Perplexity-User PerplexityThe fetcher Perplexity uses to visit a page when a person's question needs it.
- meta-externalfetcher MetaMeta's fetcher that retrieves individual URLs when a user asks, for example to help an AI complete a task.
All AI User-Triggered Fetchers · Bot directory · Bots from Google · Which bots to allow or block · robots.txt generator · See a page as a bot