36 lines
2.4 KiB
Markdown
36 lines
2.4 KiB
Markdown
# Anubis - Proof-of-Work Wall for Content Protection
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**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.
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## Why Anubis Matters
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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.
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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.
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## Key Features for Individuals
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- **Hardened policy mode** - Optimized for maximum bot deterrence with minimal human impact.
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- **robots.txt awareness** - Can serve a compliant `robots.txt` on behalf of the origin.
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- **UA and IP reputation integration** - Works seamlessly with the aggressive-bot list maintained in `known-aggressive-bot-user-agents.md`.
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- **Docker and binary deployment** - Runs on a single VPS or behind Cloudflare with zero ongoing maintenance.
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- **Open source (MIT)** - Full transparency and community support.
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## How It Fits the Defense Stack
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1. **Anubis** (this document) - First filter (PoW challenge).
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2. **Tarpits** (`howto-tarpit-deployment.md`) - Second filter for violators who bypass or ignore the challenge.
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3. **Active techniques** (decompression bombs, malformed content, slowloris) - Third layer for persistent offenders.
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4. **UA reference list** (`known-aggressive-bot-user-agents.md`) - Shared intelligence used by all layers.
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## Official Resources
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- Project: https://github.com/TecharoHQ/anubis
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- Documentation: https://anubis.techaro.lol/
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- Docker image: `ghcr.io/techarohq/anubis`
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## Recommended Starting Point
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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.* |