---
title: "FacebookExternalHit: user agent and token | Agent Ready Crawlers"
description: "FacebookExternalHit from Meta: exact user-agent string, robots.txt token facebookexternalhit, other purpose and how to verify it. Read 2026-11-04."
canonical: https://agentreadycrawlers.com/crawlers/facebookexternalhit
site: "Agent Ready Crawlers"
last_updated: 2026-11-04
section: "Crawlers"
---

# FacebookExternalHit: user agent and token | Agent Ready Crawlers

> FacebookExternalHit from Meta: exact user-agent string, robots.txt token facebookexternalhit, other purpose and how to verify it. Read 2026-11-04.

Source: https://agentreadycrawlers.com/crawlers/facebookexternalhit
Site: Agent Ready Crawlers
Last reviewed: 2026-11-04

Bot from Meta

# FacebookExternalHit

In short

FacebookExternalHit is Meta's bot, filed under Other. The token to write in robots.txt is facebookexternalhit. The operator publishes nothing a site can check. The crawl of 2026-11-04 did not measure facebookexternalhit. Meta suggests allowlisting by IP as the more secure option but the page links no IP list. FacebookExternalHit might bypass robots.txt when performing security or integrity checks.

Operator

[Meta](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/crawlers/operator/meta/) Vendor profile: [Meta](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/vendors/meta/)

Purpose

Other [All other rows](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/crawlers/purpose/other/). Link previews, ad checks, dataset crawls, SEO tools and legacy tokens that fit none of the five purposes.

User-agent string

`facebookexternalhit/1.1 (+http://www.facebook.com/externalhit_uatext.php)`

robots.txt token

`facebookexternalhit` Matched case-insensitively (RFC 9309). The token and the user-agent string are different things.

Respects robots.txt

May not apply (user-triggered)

Meta: might bypass robots.txt when performing security or integrity checks. [Source](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/webmasters/web-crawlers/), read 2026-11-04.

Verification

Nothing published

The operator publishes no list, reverse DNS pattern or key directory a site owner can check. [Documentation](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/webmasters/web-crawlers/), read 2026-11-04.

IP ranges

Not published.

Rate behaviour

Requests may use a Range header; Open Graph tags must sit in the first 1 MB.

Block rate

Not measured: the crawl checked 31 AI and search tokens, and `facebookexternalhit` is not one of them.

Documentation

[developers.facebook.com](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/webmasters/web-crawlers/), read 2026-11-04.

Note. Link-preview fetcher for shared links. Meta suggests allowlisting by IP as the more secure option but the page links no IP list.

## Allow and refuse lines

### To allow facebookexternalhit

User-agent: facebookexternalhit
Allow: /

### To refuse facebookexternalhit

User-agent: facebookexternalhit
Disallow: /

Refusing or allowing in robots.txt states a preference. For this row the operator or its documentation says robots.txt may not govern the fetch, so enforcement belongs in your WAF.

## Meta in the Verification Ledger

User agent strings only; the page recommends IP allowlisting but links no list. Publishes nothing for Muse. [All operators](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/verification/).

IP lists

publishes nothing

Reverse DNS

publishes nothing

Key directory

publishes nothing

Cloudflare

not checked

Visa TAP registry

no public operator-level registration found (checked 2026-11-04)

Mastercard Agent Pay

no public operator-level registration found (checked 2026-11-04)

## Other Meta rows

-   [Meta-ExternalAgent](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/crawlers/meta-externalagent/) Training token meta-externalagent
-   [Meta-ExternalFetcher](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/crawlers/meta-externalfetcher/) Live answer fetch token meta-externalfetcher
-   [Meta-WebIndexer](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/crawlers/meta-webindexer/) Search index token meta-webindexer
-   [Meta-ExternalAds](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/crawlers/meta-externalads/) Other token meta-externalads
-   [FacebookBot (legacy token)](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/crawlers/facebookbot/) Other token FacebookBot
-   [Muse (personal agent)](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/crawlers/meta-muse/) Shopping agent no token

## Sources

-   [Meta Web Crawlers](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/webmasters/web-crawlers/) read 2026-11-04

Last reviewed 2026-11-04