> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://tools.osintnewsletter.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://tools.osintnewsletter.com/osint-tools/known-agents.md).
# Known Agents
| **Known Agents** | **Quick Overview** |
| ---------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| URL | |
| What it does | Focuses on identifying and managing AI-driven traffic on websites. |
| How to use it | Add your domain or site via the platform dashboard to begin tracking bot activity, monitor AI and bot traffic, then optimise and control access. |
| Cost | Paid. |
| Account required | Yes. |
| Cookies | Google authentication, security, and localisation cookies. |
| Ownership | Not publicly specified. |
| Use in Reporting | To analyse and contextualise AI bot and crawler activity on a website, helping explain automated traffic patterns rather than identifying individual users. |
### What does Known Agents do?
Known Agents helps website owners see and manage how AI systems and bots interact with their sites. Instead of focusing on human identity, it focuses on non-human traffic intelligence, giving visibility into scraping, crawling, and automated access patterns.
**The lowdown:** It’s primarily a web intelligence and monitoring tool rather than a traditional OSINT identity platform.
### How to Use:
**1. Set up an account and create a new project with your website domain and website name.**
**2. Connect your domain to the platform so it can begin monitoring traffic, and analyse dashboards showing agent visits:**
### Cost
* [ ] Free
* [ ] Partially Free
* [x] Paid
Primarily a paid platform.
## Data Processing
### Account Required:
* [x] Yes
* [ ] No
An account is required to connect and manage websites.
### Cookies:
The site uses a fairly large amount of Google authentication, security, and localisation cookies to manage login sessions, verify identity, prevent abuse, and personalise search results (including location-based data and safety controls).
### Use in Reporting
Known Agents can support reporting or technical investigations by:
* Identifying automated or AI-driven traffic to websites.
* Helping distinguish human vs bot interaction patterns.
* Providing context on scraping or crawler activity.
* Supporting infrastructure and web security analysis.
* Assisting in understanding AI indexing behaviour on sites.
In general reporting terms, Known Agents is used to provide context on AI and bot activity targeting a website, helping explain automated traffic, scraping behaviour, and crawler interactions rather than attributing human identity.
| **Capabilities** | **Limitations** |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Tracks and identifies AI agents and bots visiting a website. | Strongly tied to a Google account, limiting portability across platforms. |
| Provides visibility into automated traffic patterns and behaviour. | Can raise privacy concerns due to extensive tracking of user activity. |
| Helps distinguish human vs non-human (bot) interactions. | Data is not transparent or easily interpretable for end users. |
| Allows configuration of rules to allow, block, or manage bot access. | Behaviour and retention are controlled entirely by Google with limited user control. |
| Supports optimisation of website performance for AI crawling and indexing. |
|
### Summary
Known Agents provides visibility into automated traffic and allows site owners to control how non-human systems interact with their content. It’s not typically used for identity attribution or profiling, but more for understanding machine-driven activity around a target domain.
### Ownership
Not publicly specified.
### Ethical Considerations
* Use Google authentication and session cookies only with appropriate consent and legitimate access.
* Comply with applicable privacy and data protection laws.
* Avoid using cookies or session identifiers for identifying, tracking, or profiling individuals without a lawful and proportionate basis.
* Treat authentication and session cookies as sensitive data and avoid exposing them in reports, logs, or shared materials.
* Focus analysis on security, technical, or system behaviour rather than attempts to de-anonymise users or attribute real-world identity.
### Related Tools:
* Cloudflare Bot Management
* Google Search Console
* Semrush
* Plausible Analytics
#### Sources