---
title: fastly.bot.category
summary: null
url: >-
  https://www.fastly.com/documentation/reference/vcl/variables/miscellaneous/fastly-bot-category
---

**Type:** STRING  
**Access:** read-only

**Available in:** recv, hash, deliver, log

A string indicating the type of bot detected (e.g., `SEARCH-ENGINE-CRAWLER`, `AI-CRAWLER`, `SUSPECTED-BOT`).

Returns an empty string if bot detection was not executed or no bot was detected.

**Warning:** String values may change over time. Use this for logging or informational purposes. For conditional logic, use the `fastly.bot.category.is_*` variables.