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User-agent setup for site access

Objective

Learn how to configure your website to allow PuzzleMe to access content for AI puzzle creation by whitelisting a custom user-agent.

User-agent configuration for AI puzzle creation

When using PuzzleMe's AI-powered puzzle creation (Crossword, Word Search, or Quiz) with the Website content source option, PuzzleMe needs to access your website. If your website is behind a paywall, blocks bots, or restricts automated access, you may need to explicitly allow PuzzleMe by whitelisting a custom user-agent.

Why is this needed?​

Some websites restrict access to their content for non-human visitors, such as bots or automated tools. This can prevent PuzzleMe from retrieving the necessary information to generate puzzles from your website. By allowing a specific user-agent, PuzzleMe can access your content securely and reliably, without exposing your site to unwanted bots.

How does it work?​

PuzzleMe uses a custom user-agent string when accessing your website for AI puzzle creation. This user-agent is unique to your account and follows this format:

{account-id}-puzzleme
  • {account-id} is your PuzzleMe Account ID (e.g., myAccountId).
  • The user-agent string sent by PuzzleMe will include this identifier at the end.

Example user-agent​

If your Account ID is myAccountId, PuzzleMe will send requests with a user-agent similar to:

Example user-agent

Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/18.5 Chrome/120.0.0.0 Safari/605.1.15 myAccountId-puzzleme

What should you do?​

  1. Identify your Account ID: Please contact our Support Team to ensure you have the correct account ID.
  2. Update your website's access rules: Configure your firewall, paywall, or bot-blocking system to allow requests where the user-agent ends with {account-id}-puzzleme.
    • This may involve adding an exception or whitelist rule for this user-agent pattern.
  3. Test access: After updating your configuration, use the AI puzzle creation feature in PuzzleMe and select your website as the content source.

Troubleshooting​

  • If PuzzleMe cannot access your website, double-check your user-agent whitelist configuration.
  • Ensure there are no typos in your Account ID or the user-agent pattern.
  • If you use third-party security or paywall services, consult their documentation for how to allow specific user-agents.
  • Contact PuzzleMe support if you continue to experience issues.
Pro Tip

Whitelisting the custom user-agent allows PuzzleMe to access only the content needed for puzzle creation, without opening your site to generic bots.

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