How do I generate robots.txt in PrestaShop?

Definition: PrestaShop's built-in robots.txt generator creates a file of crawler access instructions from the SEO & URLs page. Generating it replaces the existing file, so custom rules need to be added afterward.

Key facts

• As of October 2026, PrestaShop's SEO and URLs documentation places the tool under “Robots file generation” and warns that generation replaces an existing robots.txt file.
• The PrestaShop 8.2.0 source code writes User-agent: *, exclusions for selected query parameters and system pages, and directory restrictions.
• Google's robots.txt introduction explains that a blocked page's URL can still appear in search results when other pages link to it.

Where is the generation tool?

In the back office, the path is Shop Parameters > Traffic > SEO & URLs. The PrestaShop guide identifies the Generate robots.txt button in the Robots file generation section. Selecting it creates a replacement file. A copy of any existing custom rules should therefore be retained before generation, then reapplied afterward.

The generation panel's source template specifies that robots.txt belongs in the website's root directory. When the file configuration is invalid, the panel asks for a blank robots.txt file in that directory with write permissions. The template displays the generation button when the file configuration is valid.

Which exclusions does PrestaShop write?

The versioned implementation defines the default rules in getRobotsContent() and writes them through generateRobotsFile(). A Disallow line tells a crawler which URL paths to avoid; an Allow line permits matching paths. Selected output lines derived from that code, for a shop installed at the domain root, are:

User-agent: *
Allow: */modules/*.css
Allow: */modules/*.js
Allow: /js/jquery/*
Disallow: /*?order=
Disallow: /*&order=
Disallow: /*controller=cart
Disallow: /*controller=my-account
Disallow: /config/
Disallow: /modules/

This is an excerpt. The same implementation also excludes query parameters such as id_currency and search_query, and controllers including authentication, order and search. Directory exclusions include classes/, controllers/, download/ and vendor/. The module asset allowances cover several image formats as well as the CSS and JavaScript files shown above.

When friendly URLs are enabled, the generator reads the rewritten addresses of excluded system pages from the database. It also incorporates shop installation paths and language-specific paths when producing restrictions. Consequently, the generated file depends on the shop's configuration.

What should be checked after generation?

The generation panel gives http://www.example.com/robots.txt as the root-location example. The resulting file should be opened at that path on the shop's own domain and compared with any saved custom rules. The parameter, controller and directory exclusions shown above provide concrete strings to look for.

Google's guidance on robots.txt treats these rules as crawl controls. For private files, it recommends password protection; for excluding a page from search results, it describes noindex, an indexing instruction supplied through a meta tag or response header. Access restrictions in robots.txt therefore need to be reviewed separately from page indexing settings.

Related terms

• robots.txt
• robots.txt Disallow directive
• Where does a robots.txt file need to be hosted?
• Does robots.txt Disallow prevent a URL from being indexed?

FAQ

Will regeneration preserve my manual rules?

PrestaShop's guide says generation replaces the existing file. Save your manual rules before regeneration and add them back afterward.

Why does the panel ask me to create a blank file?

The panel template shows this instruction when the file configuration is invalid. Create robots.txt in the website root and ensure the application has write access before using the generator.

Does blocking my account pages make them private?

Google's documentation explains that robots.txt instructions rely on crawler compliance. Use password protection for information that requires restricted access.

Sources

1. PrestaShop, “SEO and URLs”, undated
2. PrestaShop, “Tools.php”, version 8.2.0
3. PrestaShop, “robots_file_generation.html.twig”, version 8.2.0
4. Google Search Central, “Introduction to robots.txt”, undated

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