---
title: "useRobotsRule()"
description: "A reactive way to access and set the robots rule."
canonical_url: "https://nuxtseo.com/docs/robots/api/use-robots-rule"
last_updated: "2026-05-20T13:32:40.149Z"
---

## Introduction

**Type:** `function useRobotsRule(rule?: MaybeRef<boolean | string | Partial<RobotDirectives>>): Ref<boolean | string | Partial<RobotDirectives> | undefined>`

View and control the robots rule using a simple reactivity API. Supports standard directives (index, noindex, follow, nofollow) and non-standard directives like noai and noimageai.

It's recommended to use this composable when you need to dynamically change the robots rule at runtime. For example when a user changes their profile from private to public.

Note: This does not modify the `/robots.txt` file, only the `X-Robots-Tag` header and the `robots` meta tag.

### Server Side Behavior

In a server-side context, this can be used to change the rule used for `X-Robots-Tag` header and the `robots` meta tag.

Providing a `boolean` will either enable or disable indexing for the current path using the default rules.

```ts
import { useRobotsRule } from '#imports'

const rule = useRobotsRule(true) // modifies the rules
```

### Client Side Behavior

In a client-side context you can only read the value of the rule, modifying it will have no effect. This is due to robots only respecting the initial SSR response.

```ts
import { useRobotsRule } from '#imports'

const rule = useRobotsRule(true) // does not do anything, just returns the value
```

## Available Directives

When using the object syntax, you can use the following directives:

### Standard Directives

- `index`: Allow search engines to index the page
- `noindex`: Prevent search engines from indexing the page
- `follow`: Allow search engines to follow links on the page
- `nofollow`: Prevent search engines from following links on the page
- `none`: Equivalent to `noindex, nofollow`
- `all`: Equivalent to `index, follow`

### Non-Standard Directives

- `noai`: Request AI crawlers not to use content for training
- `noimageai`: Request AI crawlers not to use images for training

### Preview Control Directives

- `max-image-preview`: Controls image preview size (`'none'`, `'standard'`, or `'large'`)
- `max-snippet`: Controls text snippet length in characters (use `-1` for no limit)
- `max-video-preview`: Controls video preview length in seconds (use `-1` for no limit)

## Usage

**Accessing the rule:**

```ts
import { useRobotsRule } from '#imports'

const rule = useRobotsRule()
// Ref<'noindex, nofollow'>
```

**Setting the rule - argument:**

```ts
import { useRobotsRule } from '#imports'

useRobotsRule('index, nofollow')
// Ref<'index, nofollow'>
useRobotsRule(false)
// Ref<'noindex, nofollow'>
```

**Setting the rule - reactive:**

```ts
import { useRobotsRule } from '#imports'

const rule = useRobotsRule()
rule.value = 'index, nofollow'
// Ref<'index, nofollow'>
```

**Setting the rule - object syntax:**

```ts
import { useRobotsRule } from '#imports'

// Using object syntax for directives
useRobotsRule({ noindex: true, nofollow: true })
// Ref<'noindex, nofollow'>

// Combining standard and non-standard directives
useRobotsRule({ index: true, noai: true, noimageai: true })
// Ref<'index, noai, noimageai'>

// Only true values are included
useRobotsRule({ index: true, follow: false, noai: true })
// Ref<'index, noai'>

// Empty object defaults to enabled value
useRobotsRule({})
// Ref<'index, follow, max-image-preview:large, max-snippet:-1, max-video-preview:-1'>
```

*Setting the rule - with max- directives:**

```ts
import { useRobotsRule } from '#imports'

// Control search result preview settings
useRobotsRule({
  'index': true,
  'max-image-preview': 'large', // 'none', 'standard', or 'large'
  'max-snippet': 150, // number of characters
  'max-video-preview': 30 // seconds of video preview
})
// Ref<'index, max-image-preview:large, max-snippet:150, max-video-preview:30'>

// Disable all previews
useRobotsRule({
  'index': true,
  'max-image-preview': 'none',
  'max-snippet': 0,
  'max-video-preview': 0
})
// Ref<'index, max-image-preview:none, max-snippet:0, max-video-preview:0'>
```