• CLEAN
  • ALERT
  • UNKNOWN
  • HUMAN

How to identify bot traffic with your AI

Connect this MCP to your agent to analyze incoming request headers. Your AI then flags suspicious activity based on User-Agent patterns.

Ask AI about this page

Short answer

How do I tell if traffic is a bot or a crawler?

Your AI uses the User-Agent string to check the identity of the requester. It distinguishes between known search engine crawlers and automated bots. You get a filtered view of your traffic logs.

Traffic classification.

Where your data lands.

The AI processes raw strings into actionable categories.

CLEAN

Verified crawlers

The AI identifies legitimate search engine bots. These are marked as safe for your analytics.

ALERT

Suspicious bots

Automated scripts and scrapers are flagged. Your AI highlights these for immediate review.

UNKNOWN

Unidentified agents

Strings that don't match known patterns are isolated. You can decide how to handle these outliers.

HUMAN

Manual review needed

The AI flags highly ambiguous strings. You step in to confirm if these are real users or sophisticated bots.

The workflow

What your AI does when a request arrives.

The agent handles the heavy lifting of string parsing and pattern matching.

  1. Extract headers

    Your agent pulls the User-Agent string from your incoming request data.

    detect_user_agent
  2. Classify identity

    The AI compares the string against known signatures for Googlebot, Bingbot, and other crawlers.

    detect_user_agent
  3. Identify bots

    The agent detects patterns typical of headless browsers or scraping tools.

    detect_user_agent
  4. Categorize results

    The AI organizes the findings into safe, suspicious, or unknown categories.

    detect_user_agent

Try it

Copy these to start.

Use these prompts to begin analyzing your traffic.

Starting points

Swap the bracketed text for your actual data sources like a log file or a specific URL.

UserStack Connector

You're all set. Choose your MCP client and follow the setup instructions.

Connector linkhttps://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_C73gpXQc76w4GftWbngd8wPaY3sHJgU9EsWqwUY7/mcp

Claude Desktop

Follow the steps below to connect in seconds.

  1. 1In Claude Desktop, open Settings → Connectors.
  2. 2Click “Add custom connector” and paste the connector link above as the remote MCP server URL.
  3. 3Click Add and start a new chat — UserStack capabilities are ready to use.
Configuration · claude_desktop_config.jsonCopy
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "userstack-user-agent-lookup-mcp": {
      "url": "https://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_C73gpXQc76w4GftWbngd8wPaY3sHJgU9EsWqwUY7/mcp"
    }
  }
}
Copy into chat04
  • Analyze these User-Agent strings from my server logs and tell me which ones are bots.

  • Check the traffic from [URL] and identify any search engine crawlers.

  • Look at this list of request headers and flag anything that looks like a scraper.

  • Summarize the bot activity found in my recent access logs.

  • Claude
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Start here

Connect UserStack User-Agent Lookup once, then ask.

Just click the link to connect. Your credentials stay encrypted, and you can start chatting with your agent immediately.

Connect UserStack User-Agent Lookup to your AI

FAQ

How this task behaves.

  • 01

    Can the AI block the bots automatically?

    No. The AI only identifies and categorizes the traffic. You must use your own firewall or server settings to block them.

  • 02

    Does the AI change my server logs?

    No. The AI only reads the data you provide to perform the analysis.

  • 03

    How does it know the difference between a crawler and a bot?

    It uses the User-Agent string to match against known signatures for legitimate search engines versus known automated tools.

  • 04

    Can it identify specific people?

    No. User-Agent strings identify software and browsers, not individual human users.

  • 05

    What if a bot mimics a real browser?

    The AI relies on the provided string. If a bot perfectly mimics a legitimate browser, the AI will treat it as a real user.

  • More questions about UserStack User-Agent Lookup? The Connector page answers them. See everything the UserStack User-Agent Lookup Connector can do

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