> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tryprofound.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Introduction

> An overview of Profound bots

Profound operates a small number of automated HTTP agents that fetch publicly available data from the web on behalf of our customers. This section documents each bot, what it does, when it runs, and how site operators can identify, allow, or block it.

## Active bots

| Name                                                       | User-Agent                                             | Trigger        | Purpose                                                                                                 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | -------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [ProfoundBot](/bots/profoundbot)                           | `ProfoundBot/1.0 (+https://docs.tryprofound.com/bots)` | User-initiated | Fetches a single public web page on demand so you can read its content as Markdown, HTML, or both       |
| [Profound Sheets Sitemap Importer](/bots/sitemap-importer) | `ProfoundSheetsSitemapImporter/1.0`                    | User-initiated | Fetches a website's `sitemap.xml` and `robots.txt` so you can import sitemap URLs into a Profound Sheet |

## Bot operating rules

Every Profound bot follows the same operating rules:

* **Public data only:** Our bots fetch resources that are intended to be publicly readable (e.g. `sitemap.xml`, `robots.txt`, public HTML pages). They never attempt authenticated areas, never submit forms, and never bypass access controls.
* **User-Agent identification:** Every bot sends a stable, descriptive User-Agent header with a name that begins with `Profound`. Site operators can match on that prefix to identify all Profound traffic.
* **`robots.txt` awareness:** Our bots read `robots.txt` for any host they fetch from. Bots that crawl HTML pages honor `Disallow` directives.
* **No persistent crawling without disclosure:** Any bot that runs on a schedule, recursively follows links, or maintains an index has a dedicated page in this section documenting its behaviour in detail.

<Note>
  Reach us at [security@tryprofound.com](mailto:security@tryprofound.com) to report abuse, request blocking, or ask questions about the traffic you have observed. We treat security seriously and respond to all reports.
</Note>