www.arstechnica.com
Scored by v3 · source-of-truth hashes: score db860d6ac94e · thresholds e94f8b33e500 — verifiable against the canonical scorer.
The 28-day score is the p75 of nightly runs — the stable number to cite. Deterministic metrics (CRR/SSD/TC) show their latest value (they move only when the site changes); timing (TTFUT) and answer-fidelity (AF) are smoothed by 28-day p75 — the same lab-vs-field split Core Web Vitals uses. Synthetic daily measurement, not real-user field data.
Embed this badge
Show your agent-readiness score anywhere — it links back to this report.
[](https://agentvitals.dev/results?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.arstechnica.com)
<a href="https://agentvitals.dev/results?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.arstechnica.com"><img src="https://agentvitals.dev/badge/arstechnica.com.svg" alt="Core Agent Vitals" height="20"></a>
An agent is likely to fabricate missing details rather than say “I don’t know”. 2/7 applicable facts come from machine-readable structured data.
Metrics
Token Cost breakdown
Where the page's tokens go (≈13,296 across regions). Most tokens are real content — the agent isn't paying much for chrome.
Final screenshot
Diagnostics
No issues found — this page is well-prepared for agents.
Rendered profile: headless
Metrics
Token Cost breakdown
Where the page's tokens go (≈13,234 across regions). Most tokens are real content — the agent isn't paying much for chrome.
Final screenshot
Diagnostics
No issues found — this page is well-prepared for agents.
Rendered profile: headless
Access & discovery checks — separate from the gated CAV metrics above. Click an issue for business impact, what we measured, and how to fix. · Take the Agent Readiness course →
Agent files & endpoints
Issues (5)
✗ robots.txt allows AI bots high impact Blocks: ClaudeBot, Claude-Web, anthropic-ai, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, Applebot-Extended, CCBot, Bytespider, cohere-ai, Diffbot, FacebookBot, YouBot, Amazonbot
Business impact If robots.txt blocks AI crawlers you are invisible to ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity — they skip you and recommend a competitor instead.
What we measured We read /robots.txt and test it against 16 AI user-agents (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, …) for a Disallow that blocks them.
How to fix Allow major AI bots to public content; restrict only private paths (/admin, /api).
User-agent: GPTBot
Allow: /
Disallow: /admin/✗ llms.txt present high impact Absent at /llms.txt and /.well-known/llms.txt
Business impact llms.txt is the robots.txt for AI: it tells agents what your site is, what matters, and where to find it. Without it AI guesses — and guessing means inaccurate recommendations and lost visibility.
What we measured We fetch /llms.txt and /.well-known/llms.txt and validate the spec (H1 title + a one-line blockquote summary). We also note /llms-full.txt (your full content as Markdown).
How to fix Create /llms.txt with a short summary + key pages; optionally /llms-full.txt with full content in Markdown.
# Your Site
> One-line description for AI agents.
## Key pages
- /products — catalog
- /pricing — plans
- /docs — documentationSpec: https://llmstxt.org
~ agents.json discovery low impact Absent (emerging standard)
Business impact agents.json describes what your site can DO for agents (services, endpoints, capabilities) — an emerging discovery standard. Early adopters get native agent integration.
What we measured We check /agents.json and /.well-known/agents.json for a valid configuration.
How to fix Publish /agents.json describing your site's capabilities and actions.
~ WebMCP endpoint low impact Absent (emerging standard)
Business impact WebMCP lets agents call actions on your site directly (book, buy, query) instead of scraping the DOM. Early adopters get native AI-agent interoperability.
What we measured We check /.well-known/webmcp and /webmcp.json for a valid actions array.
How to fix Add a WebMCP endpoint exposing your key actions to agents.
Spec: https://webmcp.org
~ API documentation low impact No OpenAPI/Swagger found
Business impact Programmatic agents prefer a typed API. An OpenAPI/Swagger spec lets them integrate without scraping.
What we measured We probe /openapi.json, /swagger.json, /api-docs and /.well-known/openapi.json.
How to fix Publish an OpenAPI spec at a well-known path.
Passed audits (7)
Transport & Trust (SEC 1.0.0)
HTTPS, HSTS, CSP, sniffing, referrer and CORS posture. Diagnostic only — this does not affect the CAV score. A security header does not make a page more legible to an agent, so scoring it would reward a CDN toggle that changes nothing an agent can recover. We measure it and say so.
Per-header findings (6)
| Header | Evidence |
|---|---|
| ✅ HTTPS | served over HTTPS |
| ❌ HSTS | no strict-transport-security header |
| ⚠️ Content-Security-Policy | script-src allows 'unsafe-inline' |
| ✅ X-Content-Type-Options | nosniff |
| ⚠️ Referrer-Policy | no referrer-policy header (browser default applies) |
| ➖ CORS exposure | no CORS headers on the document (normal for an HTML page) |
How to improve
pubads_impl.js — 196 KiB transferred, 58.5% unused (third-party)
googletagmanager.com — 901 KiB, 6 requests, 1268 ms main-thread
longest task 390 ms (10 total)
3.7 MB total
Third-party impact
174 third-party requests · 3683 KiB (98.2% of transfer) · 4653 ms main-thread — code an agent must also fetch/run before your content settles. Fewer, lazier third-parties = faster, cheaper agent reads.
| Third-party domain | Reqs | Transfer | Main-thread |
|---|---|---|---|
| googletagmanager.com | 6 | 901 KiB | 1268 ms |
| arstechnica.net | 28 | 775 KiB | 145 ms |
| permutive.app | 2 | 509 KiB | 282 ms |
| doubleclick.net | 13 | 282 KiB | 378 ms |
| facebook.net | 2 | 279 KiB | 438 ms |
| conde.digital | 7 | 184 KiB | 452 ms |
| tiktok.com | 8 | 162 KiB | 243 ms |
| condenastdigital.com | 4 | 135 KiB | 86 ms |
| amazon-adsystem.com | 7 | 97 KiB | 110 ms |
| hotjar.com | 2 | 63 KiB | 101 ms |
| sail-horizon.com | 1 | 48 KiB | 55 ms |
| planebasin.com | 4 | 40 KiB | 133 ms |
Wasted JavaScript (by bundle)
Transfer-accurate — each bundle's transfer size × its unused %, ranked by wasted bytes (the biggest code-splitting wins). Unused JS also inflates Token Cost (TC).
| Bundle | Transfer | Unused | Wasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/managed/js/gpt/m202607170101/pubads_impl.js?cb=31099818 3P | 196 KiB | 58.5% | 115 KiB |
| https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=AW-816822159 3P | 143 KiB | 75.3% | 108 KiB |
| https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LRHY7JG2PW&cx=c>m=4e67h1h1 3P | 170 KiB | 48.7% | 83 KiB |
| https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id=GTM-NLXNPCQ 3P | 181 KiB | 41.5% | 75 KiB |
| https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=AW-977997567 3P | 143 KiB | 51.6% | 74 KiB |
| https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=AW-816822159&cx=c>m=4e67h1h1 3P | 144 KiB | 50.2% | 72 KiB |
| https://analytics.tiktok.com/i18n/pixel/static/main.MTA2MWE1OWMwMQ.js 3P | 114 KiB | 57.5% | 66 KiB |
| https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id=GTM-PVBXQMCR>m=4e67h1h1 3P | 121 KiB | 54.1% | 65 KiB |
| https://connect.facebook.net/signals/config/228464857488266?v=2.9.358&r=stable&domain=arstechnica.com&hme=1179b74563cacb97c6ebae600e40937237ab12824fb84996eee07eca65cabbd4&ex_m=107%2C208%2C158%2C22%2C73%2C74%2C149%2C69%2C68%2C11%2C167%2C93%2C16%2C141%2C130%2C39%2C76%2C81%2C137%2C163%2C169%2C26%2C27%2C28%2C30%2C48%2C150%2C78%2C115%2C18%2C20%2C44%2C40%2C42%2C41%2C86%2C95%2C99%2C113%2C148%2C151%2C46%2C114%2C24%2C21%2C122%2C70%2C36%2C153%2C152%2C154%2C145%2C143%2C25%2C35%2C59%2C112%2C165%2C71%2C17%2C156%2C117%2C84%2C67%2C19%2C88%2C89%2C119%2C87%2C139%2C138%2C142%2C164%2C34%2C49%2C116%2C47%2C8%2C4%2C5%2C7%2C6%2C3%2C94%2C104%2C170%2C175%2C222%2C75%2C235%2C234%2C233%2C23%2C33%2C55%2C106%2C61%2C10%2C64%2C100%2C101%2C102%2C108%2C133%2C31%2C29%2C135%2C136%2C132%2C131%2C159%2C77%2C162%2C160%2C161%2C50%2C60%2C126%2C15%2C166%2C45%2C280%2C281%2C279%2C294%2C310%2C215%2C204%2C62%2C205%2C203%2C313%2C304%2C52%2C216%2C110%2C134%2C83%2C124%2C54%2C123%2C129%2C128%2C58%2C65%2C63%2C155%2C79%2C80%2C118%2C37%2C32%2C53%2C56%2C103%2C168%2C1%2C127%2C14%2C125%2C12%2C2%2C57%2C96%2C66%2C121%2C92%2C91%2C171%2C172%2C97%2C98%2C9%2C105%2C51%2C146%2C90%2C82%2C72%2C120%2C109%2C43%2C147%2C0%2C85%2C140%2C144%2C157%2C38%2C111%2C13%2C173 3P | 176 KiB | 34.9% | 61 KiB |
| https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/themes/ars-v9/public/js/app.95e7cc.js 3P | 73 KiB | 83.8% | 61 KiB |
| https://ads-static.conde.digital/production/cns/builds/ars-technica/prebid.min.js 3P | 111 KiB | 51.6% | 57 KiB |
| https://c.amazon-adsystem.com/aax2/apstag.js 3P | 91 KiB | 53.1% | 49 KiB |
| https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js 3P | 103 KiB | 44.5% | 46 KiB |
| https://script.hotjar.com/modules.b3c3d2ffe9c422f77646.js 3P | 57 KiB | 72.5% | 41 KiB |
| https://ak.sail-horizon.com/spm/spm.v1.min.js 3P | 48 KiB | 67% | 32 KiB |
Network
Heaviest requests (30)
| URL | Type | Status | Transfer |
|---|---|---|---|
| https://bd1cec50-00d1-4ce9-9572-785857419a1e.edge.permutive.app/1dfc40bb-d155-4f15-970e-99450dbfa0e2-web.js | Script | 200 | 509 KiB |
| https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/managed/js/gpt/m202607170101/pubads_impl.js?cb=31099818 | Script | 200 | 196 KiB |
| https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id=GTM-NLXNPCQ | Script | 200 | 181 KiB |
| https://connect.facebook.net/signals/config/228464857488266?v=2.9.358&r=stable&domain=arstechnica.com&hme=1179b74563cacb97c6ebae600e40937237ab12824fb84996eee07eca65cabbd4&ex_m=107%2C208%2C158%2C22%2C73%2C74%2C149%2C69%2C68%2C11%2C167%2C93%2C16%2C141%2C130%2C39%2C76%2C81%2C137%2C163%2C169%2C26%2C27%2C28%2C30%2C48%2C150%2C78%2C115%2C18%2C20%2C44%2C40%2C42%2C41%2C86%2C95%2C99%2C113%2C148%2C151%2C46%2C114%2C24%2C21%2C122%2C70%2C36%2C153%2C152%2C154%2C145%2C143%2C25%2C35%2C59%2C112%2C165%2C71%2C17%2C156%2C117%2C84%2C67%2C19%2C88%2C89%2C119%2C87%2C139%2C138%2C142%2C164%2C34%2C49%2C116%2C47%2C8%2C4%2C5%2C7%2C6%2C3%2C94%2C104%2C170%2C175%2C222%2C75%2C235%2C234%2C233%2C23%2C33%2C55%2C106%2C61%2C10%2C64%2C100%2C101%2C102%2C108%2C133%2C31%2C29%2C135%2C136%2C132%2C131%2C159%2C77%2C162%2C160%2C161%2C50%2C60%2C126%2C15%2C166%2C45%2C280%2C281%2C279%2C294%2C310%2C215%2C204%2C62%2C205%2C203%2C313%2C304%2C52%2C216%2C110%2C134%2C83%2C124%2C54%2C123%2C129%2C128%2C58%2C65%2C63%2C155%2C79%2C80%2C118%2C37%2C32%2C53%2C56%2C103%2C168%2C1%2C127%2C14%2C125%2C12%2C2%2C57%2C96%2C66%2C121%2C92%2C91%2C171%2C172%2C97%2C98%2C9%2C105%2C51%2C146%2C90%2C82%2C72%2C120%2C109%2C43%2C147%2C0%2C85%2C140%2C144%2C157%2C38%2C111%2C13%2C173 | Script | 200 | 176 KiB |
| https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LRHY7JG2PW&cx=c>m=4e67h1h1 | Script | 200 | 170 KiB |
| https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2286209291-768x432.jpg | Image | 200 | 145 KiB |
| https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=AW-816822159&cx=c>m=4e67h1h1 | Script | 200 | 144 KiB |
| https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=AW-816822159 | Script | 200 | 143 KiB |
| https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=AW-977997567 | Script | 200 | 143 KiB |
| https://privacy.condenastdigital.com/fides.js?property_id=FDS-MIKT8M& | Script | 200 | 133 KiB |
| https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id=GTM-PVBXQMCR>m=4e67h1h1 | Script | 200 | 121 KiB |
| https://analytics.tiktok.com/i18n/pixel/static/main.MTA2MWE1OWMwMQ.js | Script | 200 | 114 KiB |
| https://ads-static.conde.digital/production/cns/builds/ars-technica/prebid.min.js | Script | 200 | 111 KiB |
| https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js | Script | 200 | 103 KiB |
| https://c.amazon-adsystem.com/aax2/apstag.js | Script | 200 | 91 KiB |
| https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-20-at-5.24.12-PM-300x300.png | Image | 200 | 85 KiB |
| https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/themes/ars-v9/public/js/app.95e7cc.js | Script | 200 | 73 KiB |
| https://script.hotjar.com/modules.b3c3d2ffe9c422f77646.js | Script | 200 | 57 KiB |
| https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?pvsid=2734311237964736&correlator=3337195479190154&hxva=1&scor=3780962262363914&eid=31099268%2C31099818%2C95393821&output=ldjh&gdfp_req=1&vrg=202607170101&ptt=17&impl=fifs&iu_parts=3379%2Cconde.ars%2Chero%2Chomepage%2Cbundle%2C1&enc_prev_ius=0%2F1%2F2%2F3%2F4%2F5&prev_iu_szs=728x90%7C970x250%7C970x90%7C9x1%7C10x1&ifi=2&dids=hero_0&adfs=3336563339&sfv=1-0-45&fsbs=1&eri=1&sc=1&cookie=ID%3D9f7fdd5be678afbe%3AT%3D1784631602%3ART%3D1784631602%3AS%3DALNI_Mae410Vw2MXPOPXwDCGmN-xsP75ew&gpic=UID%3D00001440d83f0662%3AT%3D1784631602%3ART%3D1784631602%3AS%3DALNI_MZdpYATwRx9Vwn0Wt0fXdCa_5O-ZQ&abxe=1&dt=1784631604898&lmt=1784631604&adxs=311&adys=145&biw=1350&bih=940&scr_x=0&scr_y=0&btvi=0&ucis=2&oid=2&u_his=2&u_h=600&u_w=800&u_ah=600&u_aw=800&u_cd=24&u_sd=1&dmc=16&bc=31&nvt=1&uach=WyIiLCIiLCIiLCIiLCIiLG51bGwsMCxudWxsLCIiLG51bGwsMF0.&url=https%3A%2F%2Farstechnica.com%2F&vis=1&psz=1350x0&msz=1350x0&fws=4&ohw=1350&dlt=1784631599613&idt=2085&ppid=d8edb9ec6c2f434f9488b9fb2a22a6b6&prev_scp=pos%3Dhero%26ctx_slot_type%3Dhero%26pos_instance%3D1%26ctx_slot_instance%3D0%26ctx_slot_name%3Dhero_0%26slot_name%3Dhero_1%26maxbid%3D0.28%26amznbid%3Dxvrf28%26amznp%3Dkzaark%26id%3D5396d88b-84f3-11f1-aaf0-563f2264e7e8%26hb_ver%3D1.17.2%26hb_format%3Dbanner%26hb_size%3D970x250%26hb_pb%3D0.01%26hb_adid%3D236473af8cfe108%26hb_bidder%3Dcriteo%26amzniid%3DAX75RDNCPEYSvZx_f3ta0B1JrNnj1QZEzoMPaMThuAsIAAABn4RVNd0AAAGfhFUz6Q%26amznsz%3D728x90%26ctx_slot_rn%3D0%26bidType%3Dlow&cust_params=permutive%3D179821%252C20248%252C9710%252Cadv%252Ccyfp%252Cdcvq%252Crts%26puid%3D1157b352-71d4-435e-8abe-a0a26e52fe82%26ptime%3D1784631601733%26prmtvvid%3Dfdfde599-3812-4996-9c15-14aba11e037f%26prmtvwid%3D1dfc40bb-d155-4f15-970e-99450dbfa0e2%26prmtvsdk%3Dweb%26prmtvsid%3D27a36b9f-e4e3-4a53-b702-851b4a245836%26env_device_type%3Ddesktop%26ctx_template%3Dhome%26content_type%3Dbundle%26ctx_page_channel%3Dhomepage%26env_server%3Dproduction%26ctx_cns_version%3D6.72.280%26ctx_page_slug%3Dhomepage%26cnt_tags%3Dindex%26cnt_platform%3Dwordpress%26cnt_copilotid%3D%26pageview_id%3D7711769882%26usr_bkt_eva%3D8%26usr_bkt_ses%3D87%26usr_bkt_pv%3D3%26usr_pvc_bs%3D1%26usr_pvc_24hr%3D1%26usr_pvc_30d%3D1%26usr_svc_30d%3D1%26ctx_ses_soc%3Dnone%26ctx_ref_soc%3Dnone%26ctx_ref_url%3Dnone%26usr_auth%3Dfalse%26prmtvctx%3Dbzxb%252Cbjfa%252Cbzxa%252Cbute%252Cbvrn%252Cerpr%252Cbusy%252Cdfaj%252Cbzxc%252Ceexy%252Cerps%252Cerpt%252Crts%26vnd_4d_cached%3D0%26vnd_4d_ctx_sg%3D%26vnd_4d_ctx_topics%3D%26vnd_4d_ctx_keywords%3D%26vnd_4d_usr_topics%3D%26vnd_4d_usr_wt%3D%26vnd_4d_xid%3Dd8edb9ec-6c2f-434f-9488-b9fb2a22a6b6%26fr%3Dfalse%26adt%3DveryLow%26alc%3DveryLow%26dlm%3DveryLow%26drg%3DveryLow%26hat%3DveryLow%26off%3DveryLow%26vio%3DveryLow%26ias-kw%3DIAS_1540306_PG%252CIAS_1542155_PG%252CIAS_3005150_PG%252CIAS_1540442_PG%252CIAS_1539696_PG%252CIAS_1510761_PG%252CIAS_1530423_PG%252CIAS_1540446_PG%252CIAS_116576461_PG%252CIAS_3006819_PG%252CIAS_386609469_PG%252CIAS_1529636_PG%252CIAS_1540335_PG%252CIAS_3010239_PG%252CIAS_673093816_PG%252CIAS_015412971_PG%252CIAS_3010449_PG%252CIAS_1530431_PG%252CIAS_3007987_PG%252CIAS_1528492_PG%252CIAS_087007346_PG%252CIAS_1540047_PG%252CIAS_1539885_PG%252CIAS_1542097_PG%252CIAS_1539775_PG%252CIAS_1529397_PG%252CIAS_878001618_PG%252CIAS_1539672_PG%252CIAS_1539515_PG%252CIAS_370741550_PG%252CIAS_1540298_PG%252CIAS_1541994_PG%252CIAS_1542154_PG%252CIAS_455339114_PG%252CIAS_1530615_PG%252CIAS_1539744_PG%252CIAS_SET%252CIAS_3006647_PG%252CIAS_1540046_PG%252CIAS_1510285_PG%252CIAS_1539458_PG%252CIAS_3005044_PG%252CIAS_1529475_PG%26ias-qc%3DIAS_SET%26feature_flags%3Dias-oop%26usr_serv_rest%3Dno_rest%26cn_metrics%3Dtcp_na%252Ctcr_no_rest%252Cgpc_na%252Cdnt_f%252Cgcc_null%252Cfcc_CA%252Ccmp_ethyca%252Cgdpr_na%252Cgvc_na%252Cgvli_na%252Csfo_na%26sp_pageview_id%3D21be640a-6c24-444a-8a58-91630785b03c&adks=2679184892&frm=20&eo_id_str=ID%3Dcac8f5714214be63%3AT%3D1784631602%3ART%3D1784631602%3AS%3DAA-AfjbIVgqJYrpLp9tF3nJMnSrG&gblpids=3379%2Fconde.ars%2Fhero%2Fhomepage%2Fbundle%2F1&pb_szs=728x90%7C970x250&pbbce=1 | Fetch | 200 | 48 KiB |
| https://ak.sail-horizon.com/spm/spm.v1.min.js | Script | 200 | 48 KiB |
| https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/5F3A7900-768x432.jpg | Image | 200 | 44 KiB |
| https://ads-static.conde.digital/production/cns/builds/ars-technica/v6.js | Script | 200 | 42 KiB |
| https://arstechnica.com/ | Document | 200 | 41 KiB |
| https://planebasin.com/dist/25dd01b14_8715a062a12be6f05714ee41f1a252e6e86d0.index.js | Script | 200 | 40 KiB |
| https://analytics.tiktok.com/i18n/pixel/static/identify_b8133453.js | Script | 200 | 39 KiB |
| https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/themes/ars-v9/public/fonts/7cHmv4okm5zmbtYoK-4.a71c5e.woff2 | Font | 200 | 39 KiB |
| https://cdn-magiclinks.trackonomics.net/client/static/v2/condenast_eujdmc753_arstechnica.js | Script | 200 | 39 KiB |
| https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/KSC-20241014-PH-SPX01_0003orig-300x300.jpg | Image | 200 | 39 KiB |
| https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/themes/ars-v9/public/js/cntracking.4577bc.js | Script | 200 | 38 KiB |
| https://www.googletagservices.com/tag/js/gpt.js | Script | 200 | 36 KiB |
Long tasks (>50 ms)
| Start | Duration |
|---|---|
| 6022 ms | 390 ms |
| 3026 ms | 244 ms |
| 507 ms | 227 ms |
| 2312 ms | 194 ms |
| 4244 ms | 194 ms |
| 5269 ms | 188 ms |
| 4037 ms | 187 ms |
| 3497 ms | 181 ms |
| 2826 ms | 179 ms |
| 6870 ms | 161 ms |