Should I block AI agents on my store?
Blocking every AI agent also blocks shoppers who send one to buy for them. Many stores block agents by accident through bot protection. A middle path is to allow agents that identify themselves and to send them to official checkout routes, while still limiting scrapers. ARC shows whether your store currently blocks automated agents.
The trade-off in one paragraph
A block stops some scraping and also stops a shopper's agent from buying. Sales lost to blocking are not something ARC can see.
Sales lost to blocking: Not measuredNot measured
Accidental blocks: how they happen
Bot protection often treats an agent like a scraper. The store page shows the HTTP evidence when ARC's own check was blocked. That label is not a score of zero.
Latest check recorded an HTTP block: 441 of 4,421 (10%)MeasuredA bot challenge or refusal on ARC's check. Not a robots.txt rule, and not a zero score.
Options: allow all, allow verified agents, block all
Allow all leaves scrapers in. Block all also blocks shoppers. A middle path allows agents that identify themselves and sends them to the store's official checkout routes.
How verified-agent signing works
Some agents sign requests so a CDN can recognise them. Card-network programmes that use those signatures are on agent payments. ARC cannot see adoption of that signing from outside, so it stays Not measured.
What ARC sees across stores
Two different measurements. An HTTP block is on the line above. A robots.txt disallow is a rule in a file. The counts are on robots.txt for AI shopping agents.
robots.txt disallows an answer agent: 142 of 3,894 (3.6%)MeasuredThis source does not split unreadable robots.txt from the rate. Unknown is not a block, and a missing row is not a no.
Check what your store does today
Open /store. The page says whether this check was blocked. A store that is absent was not found to be blocking. Absence is not a pass.
Frequently asked questions
- Should I block AI agents on my store?
- Blocking every AI agent also blocks shoppers who send one to buy for them. Many stores block agents by accident through bot protection. A middle path is to allow agents that identify themselves and to send them to official checkout routes, while still limiting scrapers. ARC shows whether your store currently blocks automated agents.
- Will blocking AI agents protect my store?
- It stops some scraping, but it also stops shoppers' agents from buying. Decide on purpose rather than by default.
- Can I allow good agents only?
- Increasingly, yes. Agents can sign their requests so your CDN can recognise them. ARC does not measure how many stores have turned that on.
- Does ARC tell me if I'm blocking?
- Yes. Your store page shows whether ARC's check was blocked, with the HTTP evidence. A missing check is not a block.
On ARC
Cite this: ARC, arcreport.ai, accessed 2026-10-13, CC-BY-4.0. Protocol figures: ARC saved checks, accessed 2026-10-13 (13 October 2026). Index browser figures: ARC open dataset snapshot 2026-10-12. Platform figures: ARC saved checks, accessed 2026-10-13.
Every figure is labelled Measured, Inferred or Not measured. Not measured is not zero. A missing result is not a mark against a store. ARC stops before payment.