# Anubis - Proof-of-Work Wall for Content Protection

**Anubis** is the recommended first-line defense for individual creators against aggressive AI scrapers. Developed by Xe Iaso and the Techaro team, it is a lightweight, self-hosted reverse proxy that forces suspicious clients to complete a JavaScript proof-of-work challenge before they can reach your origin server.

## Why Anubis Matters

Most AI crawlers use headless browsers or high-concurrency scripts that cannot efficiently solve computational challenges. Real human visitors using modern browsers experience only a one-time, sub-second delay. The result is a dramatic (90–95%) reduction in bot traffic within the first week of deployment, as documented across multiple production sites in 2025.

Anubis directly addresses the economic asymmetry described in the primary dissertation: scrapers pay a high per-request cost they did not budget for, while content creators pay almost nothing.

## Key Features for Individuals

- **Hardened policy mode** — Optimized for maximum bot deterrence with minimal human impact.
- **robots.txt awareness** — Can serve a compliant `robots.txt` on behalf of the origin.
- **UA and IP reputation integration** — Works seamlessly with the aggressive-bot list maintained in `known-aggressive-bot-user-agents.md`.
- **Docker and binary deployment** — Runs on a single VPS or behind Cloudflare with zero ongoing maintenance.
- **Open source (MIT)** — Full transparency and community support.

## How It Fits the Defense Stack

1. **Anubis** (this document) — First filter (PoW challenge).
2. **Tarpits** (`howto-tarpit-deployment.md`) — Second filter for violators who bypass or ignore the challenge.
3. **Active techniques** (decompression bombs, malformed content, slowloris) — Third layer for persistent offenders.
4. **UA reference list** (`known-aggressive-bot-user-agents.md`) — Shared intelligence used by all layers.

## Official Resources

- Project: https://github.com/TecharoHQ/anubis
- Documentation: https://anubis.techaro.lol/
- Docker image: `ghcr.io/techarohq/anubis`

## Recommended Starting Point

Deploy Anubis in front of your origin today. It is the single highest-impact, lowest-effort action an individual creator can take to begin reclaiming control of their content.

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*Anubis is the cornerstone of the passive defense layer. All other techniques in this repository are designed to complement it.*