A polite fetcher for reader-requested pages.
Pilcrows retrieves a page when a confirmed user explicitly saves its URL. It is not a general-purpose crawler and does not build a search index.
How it behaves
- Requests identify Pilcrows with a descriptive user agent.
- Private, loopback, and unsafe network destinations are blocked.
- Redirects, response size, retries, and per-user saves are limited.
- Fetched copies remain private unless the user publishes bounded metadata.
How to block it
Return HTTP 403 or 429 to Pilcrows requests, or
disallow PilcrowsBot in robots.txt. We honor
explicit publisher blocks. For persistent issues, email
[email protected] with the affected
hostname and request details.