target.com: what it tells AI crawlers

On 27 October 2026, target.com's robots.txt allowed all of GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, Claude-SearchBot, Google-Extended, PerplexityBot and CCBot; it also published llms.txt.

Last verified 2026-10-28 03:59 UTC (daily run of 2026-10-27). Proof for that day.

Panel
top 1k (Tranco)
robots.txt
ok (HTTP 200) · https://www.target.com/robots.txt
unchanged since 2026-10-26 · sha256 3f8a9e45a59d43ab… · view as recorded
The * group
partial applies to every agent without its own group

Per AI bot, 2026-10-27

User agentVerdictHow
GPTBotpartialthrough the * group
OAI-SearchBotpartialthrough the * group
ChatGPT-Userpartialthrough the * group
ClaudeBotpartialthrough the * group
Claude-SearchBotpartialthrough the * group
Claude-Userpartialthrough the * group
PerplexityBotpartialthrough the * group
Perplexity-Userpartialthrough the * group
Googlebotpartialthrough the * group
Google-Extendedpartialthrough the * group
Applebot-Extendedpartialthrough the * group
CCBotpartialthrough the * group
Bytespiderpartialthrough the * group
Meta-ExternalAgentpartialthrough the * group
Amazonbotpartialthrough the * group

Other signals

Publishes /llms.txtyes
Publishes /ai.txtno
Publishes /.well-known/tdmrep.jsonno
Reserves TDM rights (TDMRep file, header or meta)no
Declares Content Signals (robots.txt or header)no
Says ai-train=no in a Content Signalno
Points to an RSL licence (robots.txt License line or Link header)no
Answers with an x402 payment offer (lower bound: only the homepage is probed)no
Answers HTTP 402 Payment Required (lower bound: only the homepage is probed)no
Sends noai / noimageai directivesno
Refused our fetcher (403 / challenge)no

llms.txt: "Target.com", 6,158 bytes, 54 links.

robots.txt as recorded sha256 ee37f2abb4616789…

Sitemap: https://www.target.com/sitemap_keywords-index.xml.gz
Sitemap: https://www.target.com/sitemap_stores-index.xml.gz
Sitemap: https://www.target.com/sitemap_taxonomy-categories-index.xml.gz
Sitemap: https://www.target.com/sitemap_pdp-index.xml.gz
Sitemap: https://www.target.com/sitemap_taxonomy-brand-index.xml.gz
Sitemap: https://www.target.com/sitemap_facet-categories-index.xml.gz

User-agent: *
Disallow: /*/Ntk
Disallow: /*/Ntt
Disallow: /*/Ntx
Disallow: /*%7Cd_
Disallow: /*/schoollist/
Disallow: /*BTWN
Disallow: /[path]/
Disallow: /7078046/
Disallow: /7079046/
Disallow: /AddToList
Disallow: /AddToRegistry
Disallow: /admin
Disallow: /advancedGiftRegistrySearchView
Disallow: /AjaxSearchNavigationView
Disallow: /Allons_voter
Disallow: /bp/c/
Disallow: /bp/guest_mfg_brand
Disallow: /bp/p/
Disallow: /CallToActionModalView
Disallow: /cgi-bin
Disallow: /cgi-local
Disallow: /Checkout
Disallow: /CheckoutEditItemsDisplayView
Disallow: /CheckoutOrderBillingView
Disallow: /CheckoutOrderShippingView
Disallow: /CheckoutSignInView
Disallow: /co-
Disallow: /common
Disallow: /coupons.
Disallow: /custom-reviews/
Disallow: /data
Disallow: /database/philboard.mdb
Disallow: /dir_on_server/
Disallow: /EmailCartView
Disallow: /EnlargedImageView
Disallow: /ESPDisplayOptionsViewCmd
Disallow: /ESPModal
Disallow: /ExitCheckoutCmd
Disallow: /FeaturedShowMoreOverlay
Disallow: /FetchProdRefreshContent
Disallow: /fiats
Disallow: /FiatsCmd
Disallow: /file
Disallow: /FreeGiftDisplayView
Disallow: /gam-
Disallow: /GenericRegistryPortalView
Disallow: /gc?k
Disallow: /GiftRegistrySearchViewCmd
Disallow: /gp/
Disallow: /GuestAsAnonymous
Disallow: /guestEmailNotificationView
Disallow: /HelpContent
Disallow: /igp
Disallow: /index.jhtml
Disallow: /keyword=
Disallow: /legal-contact-us/
Disallow: /list.id=1
Disallow: /LogonForm
Disallow: /m/
Disallow: /ManageOrder
Disallow: /ManageReturns
Disallow: /MediaDisplayView
Disallow: /mm/
Disallow: /moreinfo.cfm
Disallow: /news
Disallow: /np/
Disallow: /OpenZoomLayer
Disallow: /OrderItemDisplay
Disallow: /OtherDisplayView
Disallow: /p/premium-registry
Disallow: /PhotoUpload
Disallow: /pl/
Disallow: /ProductComparisonCmd
Disallow: /ProductDetailsTabView
Disallow: /PromotionDetailsDisplayView
Disallow: /PromotionDisplayView
Disallow: /qi/
Disallow: /QuickInfoView
Disallow: /ready_sit_read/index.jhtml
Disallow: /RegistryPortalCmd
Disallow: /ReportAbuse
Disallow: /reviewVote
Disallow: /script
Disallow: /SearchNavigationView
Disallow: /shop/
Disallow: /SingleShipmentOrderSummaryView
Disallow: /SOImapPriceDisplayView
Disallow: /SpecificationDefinitionView
Disallow: /splitOrderItem
Disallow: /store-locator/search-results-print
Disallow: /supertarget/index.jhtml
Disallow: /target_baby/
Disallow: /target_group
Disallow: /targetdirect_group/
Disallow: /TargetListPortalView
Disallow: /TargetStoreLocatorCmd
Disallow: /tdir/p/kids-back-to-school/
Disallow: /tsa/
Disallow: /VariationSelectionView
Disallow: /webapp
Disallow: /winnt/
Disallow: /WriteComments
Disallow: /WriteReviews
Disallow: /XCSA/
Disallow: /yr
Disallow: /s?
Disallow: /cart
Disallow: /account/
Disallow: /tracking
Disallow: /config

robots.txt versions

FromThroughStateVersion
2026-10-262026-10-27ok 2003f8a9e45a59d

Timeline of changes

DateWhat changed
No changes since the first observation (2026-10-26).

Reconstructed history (Common Crawl)

From Common Crawl's robots.txt captures: what CCBot was served, one crawl per quarter. A separate series from the daily observations above; a 403 here means Common Crawl was refused, not this ledger.

CrawlHostStateGPTBotOAI-SearchBotChatGPT-UserClaudeBotClaude-SearchBotClaude-UserPerplexityBot
2026-09-21 CC-MAIN-2026-39www.target.comok viewpartialpartialunknownpartialpartialunknownpartial
2025-09-15 CC-MAIN-2025-38www.target.comok viewpartialpartialunknownpartialpartialunknownpartial
2024-09-16 CC-MAIN-2024-38www.target.comok viewpartialpartialunknownpartialpartialunknownpartial
2023-10-02 CC-MAIN-2023-40www.target.comok viewpartialpartialunknownpartialpartialunknownpartial
2022-10-03 CC-MAIN-2022-40www.target.comok viewpartialpartialunknownpartialpartialunknownpartial
2021-09-27 CC-MAIN-2021-39www.target.comok viewpartialpartialunknownpartialpartialunknownpartial
2020-09-28 CC-MAIN-2020-40www.target.comok viewpartialpartialunknownpartialpartialunknownpartial
2019-09-23 CC-MAIN-2019-39www.target.comok viewpartialpartialunknownpartialpartialunknownpartial
2018-09-24 CC-MAIN-2018-39www.target.comok viewpartialpartialunknownpartialpartialunknownpartial
2017-10-23 CC-MAIN-2017-43www.target.comok viewpartialpartialunknownpartialpartialunknownpartial
2017-09-25 CC-MAIN-2017-39www.target.comok viewpartialpartialunknownpartialpartialunknownpartial
2017-07-24 CC-MAIN-2017-30www.target.comok viewpartialpartialunknownpartialpartialunknownpartial
2017-04-24 CC-MAIN-2017-17www.target.comok viewpartialpartialunknownpartialpartialunknownpartial
2017-01-23 CC-MAIN-2017-04target.comsoft404unknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknown
2016-10-03 CC-MAIN-2016-40target.comsoft404unknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknown
2016-09-05 CC-MAIN-2016-36target.comsoft404unknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknownunknown

Evidence

Every daily observation of target.com is a leaf in that day's Merkle tree. Proof of the robots.txt line for 2026-10-27: audit path (JSON), day root and OpenTimestamps proof (complete (bitcoin block 973493)).

API: https://infrarabbit.com/crawlers/api/v1/policy/target.com