What is this?
Anubis is a Web AI Firewall Utility that weighs the soul of incoming connections with challenges to protect upstream resources from AI scraper bots — built to defend the small internet from endless storms of AI-company requests.
Anubis is a Web AI Firewall Utility that weighs the soul of incoming connections with challenges to protect upstream resources from AI scraper bots — built to defend the small internet from endless storms of AI-company requests.Is this a hosted service, or something I run myself in front of my site?You run it on your own infrastructure: Anubis sits in front of your site as a gate that filters requests before they reach your upstream application, working as middleware or a reverse proxy.
You run it on your own infrastructure: Anubis sits in front of your site as a gate that filters requests before they reach your upstream application, working as middleware or a reverse proxy.How do I get it running?The README points to the documentation site at anubis.techaro.lol, which covers trying it out and deploying it. There is also a Packaging Status section, so it is available through several package managers.
The README points to the documentation site at anubis.techaro.lol, which covers trying it out and deploying it. There is also a Packaging Status section, so it is available through several package managers.What does it need to run?Server-side it is just a lightweight Go program. The challenge runs in the visitor's browser as JavaScript — the client code uses Preact, SHA-256 hashing and WebAssembly feature detection.
Server-side it is just a lightweight Go program. The challenge runs in the visitor's browser as JavaScript — the client code uses Preact, SHA-256 hashing and WebAssembly feature detection.Will it block good bots too, like the Internet Archive?It can — the author calls it 'a bit of a nuclear response': smaller scrapers get blocked and good bots like the Internet Archive may be inhibited. Bot policy definitions can explicitly allowlist crawlers, and a curated known-good set is being worked on.
It can — the author calls it 'a bit of a nuclear response': smaller scrapers get blocked and good bots like the Internet Archive may be inhibited. Bot policy definitions can explicitly allowlist crawlers, and a curated known-good set is being worked on.If Cloudflare already protects most sites, who is this actually for?Most origins can get by with Cloudflare; Anubis is for the cases where you can't or won't use it. It is kept lightweight so even small sites and communities can afford protection.
Most origins can get by with Cloudflare; Anubis is for the cases where you can't or won't use it. It is kept lightweight so even small sites and communities can afford protection.What happens when an AI crawler hits my site?The connection is put through one or more challenges before it reaches your server. In practice the visitor's browser does a small proof-of-work — computing SHA-256 hashes, with WebAssembly when available — which a real browser finishes in moments but scraper bots rarely bother with.
The connection is put through one or more challenges before it reaches your server. In practice the visitor's browser does a small proof-of-work — computing SHA-256 hashes, with WebAssembly when available — which a real browser finishes in moments but scraper bots rarely bother with.Is Anubis free, and how is it supported?It is fully free and open source under the MIT license. Development is backed by sponsors and donors, and the author runs a Patron Discord for live support.
It is fully free and open source under the MIT license. Development is backed by sponsors and donors, and the author runs a Patron Discord for live support.What are similar projects?SafeLine, crowdsec, cloudflare-turnstile-bypass, nps, undetected-chromedriver, anti-mage, rathole, fail2ban
SafeLine, crowdsec, cloudflare-turnstile-bypass, nps, undetected-chromedriver, anti-mage, rathole, fail2banWhich topics is it in?waf, anti-bot, bot-detection, firewall, middleware, reverse-proxy, cloudflare, sysadmin, http, cybersecurity, security-tools, proxy
waf, anti-bot, bot-detection, firewall, middleware, reverse-proxy, cloudflare, sysadmin, http, cybersecurity, security-tools, proxy