Cloudflare has announced the general availability of Precursor, a new behavioural security tool designed to detect and block advanced bots without interrupting genuine users.
Built into Cloudflare’s edge network, Precursor continuously analyses user behaviour throughout an entire browsing session instead of relying on one-time security checks such as CAPTCHAs. The company said the technology is designed to identify automated traffic by monitoring interaction patterns in real time while allowing legitimate users to browse without additional verification steps.
According to Cloudflare, automated bots now account for around 57% of all web requests, surpassing human-generated internet traffic. The company said this shift has increased the need for more advanced security measures as AI-powered bots become capable of bypassing traditional defences.
Precursor evaluates behavioural signals such as mouse movements, scrolling patterns, typing rhythm, clipboard activity and page visibility to distinguish human users from automated programs. Cloudflare said the system records only aggregate behavioural patterns and does not capture sensitive information such as actual keystrokes.
The company added that the solution can be activated with a single click and does not require changes to a website’s underlying code. It also continuously assesses activity throughout a user’s session, making it more difficult for bots to evade detection by refreshing pages or restarting sessions.
Cloudflare Chief Technology Officer Dane Knecht said modern bots have become sophisticated enough to bypass traditional security checks, making continuous behavioural analysis a more effective approach for identifying automated activity while maintaining a seamless experience for genuine users.