01 · Operator
Who operates PaperLiBot
- Company
- Smallrivers SA
- Type
- Other bot
- Official docs
- support.paper.li
02 · Behavior
What PaperLiBot does
Paper.li builds online newspapers and newsletters from sources chosen by users. Sources include RSS feeds, keywords and social media posts. The bot fetches linked articles to include them in these papers.
03 · Impact
Why PaperLiBot matters for your site
If you allow it
- Your articles may appear in curated Paper.li papers
- Can bring referral traffic
If you block it
- Content is republished in third-party papers
- No search engine benefit
04 · Allow
How to allow PaperLiBot
robots.txt
User-agent: PaperLiBot
Allow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "PaperLiBot")
Action: Skip › All Super Bot Fight Mode rules
# Also check Security › Bots: "Block AI bots" can block it regardless of robots.txt.WordPress
# WordPress serves a virtual robots.txt. Edit it with your SEO plugin:
# Yoast: SEO › Tools › File editor · Rank Math: General Settings › Edit robots.txt
User-agent: PaperLiBot
Allow: /nginx
# nginx serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure no rule like this blocks it:
# if ($http_user_agent ~* "PaperLiBot") { return 403; }Apache
# Apache serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure .htaccess has no rule like this:
# RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} PaperLiBot [NC]
# RewriteRule .* - [F,L]05 · Block
How to block PaperLiBot
Start with robots.txt. If PaperLiBot keeps showing up in your logs, block it at your CDN or web server.
robots.txt
User-agent: PaperLiBot
Disallow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "PaperLiBot")
Action: BlockWordPress
# WordPress serves a virtual robots.txt. Edit it with your SEO plugin:
# Yoast: SEO › Tools › File editor · Rank Math: General Settings › Edit robots.txt
User-agent: PaperLiBot
Disallow: /nginx
# In your server { } block:
if ($http_user_agent ~* "PaperLiBot") {
return 403;
}Apache
# .htaccess
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} PaperLiBot [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
</IfModule>06 · User agents
User agents we see for PaperLiBot
The user agent published by the operator:
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; PaperLiBot/2.1; https://support.paper.li/entries/20023257-what-is-paper-li)07 · Verification
Is it really PaperLiBot?
PaperLiBot’s operator publishes no IP ranges or hostnames, so requests cannot be verified. Treat the user agent as a claim, and watch your logs for unusual request rates.
FAQ
Questions about PaperLiBot
What is Paper.li?
Paper.li is a content curation service. It turns content from chosen sources into online newspapers and newsletters.
How do I block PaperLiBot?
Add "User-agent: PaperLiBot" with "Disallow: /" to robots.txt. Paper.li does not document whether the bot obeys it.
Last reviewed Oct 8, 2026