01 · Operator
Who operates PATHspider
- Company
- MAMI Project
- Type
- Monitoring bot
- Official docs
- pathspider.net
02 · Behavior
What PATHspider does
Researchers run it to test whether network paths pass new protocol features unchanged. It is downloadable software, so any researcher can run it. Requests come from whoever runs the tool, not a single central crawler.
03 · Impact
Why PATHspider matters for your site
If you allow it
- Supports academic internet measurement research
- Usually light and infrequent requests
If you block it
- No benefit for site visibility
- Anyone can run the tool from any network
04 · Allow
How to allow PATHspider
robots.txt
User-agent: PATHspider
Allow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "PATHspider")
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: PATHspider
Allow: /nginx
# nginx serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure no rule like this blocks it:
# if ($http_user_agent ~* "PATHspider") { return 403; }Apache
# Apache serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure .htaccess has no rule like this:
# RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} PATHspider [NC]
# RewriteRule .* - [F,L]05 · Block
How to block PATHspider
Start with robots.txt. If PATHspider keeps showing up in your logs, block it at your CDN or web server.
robots.txt
User-agent: PATHspider
Disallow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "PATHspider")
Action: BlockWordPress
# WordPress serves a virtual robots.txt. Edit it with your SEO plugin:
# Yoast: SEO › Tools › File editor · Rank Math: General Settings › Edit robots.txt
User-agent: PATHspider
Disallow: /nginx
# In your server { } block:
if ($http_user_agent ~* "PATHspider") {
return 403;
}Apache
# .htaccess
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} PATHspider [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
</IfModule>06 · User agents
User agents we see for PATHspider
The user agent published by the operator:
PATHspider (https://pathspider.net/)07 · Verification
Is it really PATHspider?
PATHspider’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 PATHspider
What is PATHspider?
It is a Python tool for measuring path transparency of internet protocols. It was built on a peer-reviewed measurement methodology.
Is PATHspider an attack?
No. It is research software for network measurement, not an exploitation tool.
Last reviewed Oct 8, 2026