diff --git a/core/base-service/got.js b/core/base-service/got.js
index a5b0edd9cb8a9..f0c9db2e4e6da 100644
--- a/core/base-service/got.js
+++ b/core/base-service/got.js
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 const got = require('got')
 const { Inaccessible, InvalidResponse } = require('./errors')
 
+const userAgent = 'Shields.io/2003a'
+
 function requestOptions2GotOptions(options) {
   const requestOptions = Object.assign({}, options)
   const gotOptions = {}
@@ -49,6 +51,8 @@ async function sendRequest(gotWrapper, url, options) {
   const gotOptions = requestOptions2GotOptions(options)
   gotOptions.throwHttpErrors = false
   gotOptions.retry = 0
+  gotOptions.headers = gotOptions.headers || {}
+  gotOptions.headers['User-Agent'] = userAgent
   try {
     const resp = await gotWrapper(url, gotOptions)
     return { res: resp, buffer: resp.body }
diff --git a/core/base-service/got.spec.js b/core/base-service/got.spec.js
index d2a71ff549bea..580d2d33acb68 100644
--- a/core/base-service/got.spec.js
+++ b/core/base-service/got.spec.js
@@ -82,6 +82,21 @@ describe('got wrapper', function () {
     )
   })
 
+  it('should pass a custom user agent header', async function () {
+    nock('https://www.google.com', {
+      reqheaders: {
+        'user-agent': function (agent) {
+          return agent.startsWith('Shields.io')
+        },
+      },
+    })
+      .get('/foo/bar')
+      .once()
+      .reply(200)
+    const sendRequest = fetchFactory(1024)
+    await sendRequest('https://www.google.com/foo/bar')
+  })
+
   afterEach(function () {
     nock.cleanAll()
     nock.enableNetConnect()