Mistral AI User Agents & LeChat Crawler
MistralAI-User fetches web content when LeChat users ask questions. Unlike training crawlers, it only visits sites when real users need answers.
Mistral AI is a European AI company founded in 2023, known for their open-weight models and the LeChat assistant. MistralAI-User is their user agent for fetching web content when users ask questions.
What is Mistral AI?
Mistral AI is headquartered in Paris, France. They build powerful language models including Mistral Large, Mistral Nemo, and Codestral. Their LeChat assistant competes with ChatGPT and Claude.
Unlike GPTBot or ClaudeBot which crawl for training data, MistralAI-User only visits websites when real users ask LeChat questions that require web content.
About Mistral AI
Company
Mistral AI
Headquarters
Paris, France
Founded
2023
Product
LeChat (chat.mistral.ai)
Website
mistral.ai
Key Feature
Open-weight models, European AI
What is MistralAI-User?
MistralAI-User is for user actions in LeChat. When users ask LeChat a question, it may visit a web page to help answer and include a link to the source in its response.
MistralAI-User governs which sites these user requests can be made to. It is NOT used for crawling the web in any automatic fashion, nor to crawl content for generative AI training.
MistralAI-User User Agent String
Full User Agent
Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; MistralAI-User/1.0; +https://docs.mistral.ai/robots)Detection Pattern
/MistralAI-User/iHow do I detect MistralAI-User?
Look for "MistralAI-User" in the user agent string. Here's how to detect it in different environments:
JavaScript / Node.js
const isMistralUser = /MistralAI-User/i.test(userAgent);Server Log Analysis
grep -i "MistralAI-User" access.logHow do I block MistralAI-User?
Add these lines to your robots.txt file:
User-agent: MistralAI-User
Disallow: /Should I allow MistralAI-User?
Yes, for most sites. Unlike training crawlers, MistralAI-User only visits when real users ask questions. Allowing it means:
- • Your content can be cited in LeChat responses
- • Users may click through to your site from LeChat
- • You gain visibility in AI-powered search
- • LeChat users get accurate, up-to-date information
How to verify MistralAI-User requests
Mistral AI publishes their IP addresses for verification:
IP Address List
https://mistral.ai/mistralai-user-ips.jsonFetch this JSON file and verify that incoming requests claiming to be MistralAI-User actually come from these IP addresses.
Mistral AI Models
| Model | Context Window | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Mistral Large | 128K tokens | Complex reasoning, multi-step tasks |
| Mistral Nemo | 128K tokens | Balanced, cost-effective |
| Mistral Small | 32K tokens | Fast, cost-effective |
| Codestral | 32K tokens | Code generation |
| Pixtral | 128K tokens | Vision + text multimodal |
MistralAI-User vs Training Crawlers
🎯 MistralAI-User (User Browsing)
- • Only visits when a real user asks a question
- • Provides attribution/links to your content
- • Does NOT store content for model training
- • Respects robots.txt directives
🤖 Training Crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot)
- • Crawl websites automatically
- • Collect content for AI training
- • May not provide attribution
- • Different robots.txt considerations
Comparison with Other User Bots
| Bot | Company | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT-User | OpenAI | User browsing in ChatGPT |
| Claude-User | Anthropic | User browsing in Claude |
| Perplexity-User | Perplexity | User browsing in Perplexity |
| MistralAI-User | Mistral AI | User browsing in LeChat |
| OAI-SearchBot | OpenAI | ChatGPT Search indexing |
FAQ
What is Mistral AI's user agent string?
MistralAI-User/1.0 for LeChat user browsing. Full string: Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; MistralAI-User/1.0; +https://docs.mistral.ai/robots)
Is MistralAI-User used for AI training?
No. MistralAI-User is only for user-initiated browsing. It is NOT used for crawling the web automatically or collecting training data. For Mistral AI's training data policies, see their Legal Center.
How do I verify requests are from Mistral AI?
Check the source IP against the published list at https://mistral.ai/mistralai-user-ips.json. This confirms requests are genuinely from Mistral AI's infrastructure.
Should I allow or block MistralAI-User?
Allow it for visibility in LeChat responses. Unlike training crawlers, MistralAI-User only visits when real users need your content. Blocking it means your site won't appear in LeChat answers.
Related user agents
Other AI crawlers you can track:
- OpenAI User Agents — GPTBot, ChatGPT-User, and OAI-SearchBot
- Claude User Agents — ClaudeBot and Claude-User
- Perplexity User Agents — PerplexityBot and Perplexity-User
- DeepSeek User Agents — DeepSeek crawler info
- Bing AI User Agents — Microsoft Bing and Copilot