What is llms.txt?
llms.txt is a plain text file in Markdown format that sits at the root of your website, at https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt. It gives large language models (LLMs) and AI tools a short, tidy overview of who you are and which pages matter most, without menus, cookie banners and scripts in the way.
The idea was proposed in September 2024 by Jeremy Howard of Answer.AI. It is described at llmstxt.org. It is a community proposal, not an official standard, and no browser or search engine is required to read it.
Think of it as a cover letter for AI: a human-readable summary with links to your best pages. It is most popular on developer documentation sites, where coding assistants and AI agents use it to find the right docs quickly.
How an llms.txt file is structured
The proposal defines a simple order. Only the H1 is required, but a useful file has all of these parts:
- An H1 with the name of your site or business:
# Sunrise Bakery - A blockquote summary in one or two sentences:
> Family bakery in Portland... - Optional paragraphs with extra context, like who you serve or what makes you different.
- H2 sections with link lists. Each line follows
- [Title](URL): short note. - **An optional
## Optionalsection** for links an AI can skip if it is short on space.
Use full URLs, keep notes short and factual, and link to pages that actually answer questions: services, prices, opening hours, contact, FAQ.
llms.txt example for a small business
Here is a complete example for a local bakery. Replace the facts with your own, or let the generator above build it for you.
# Sunrise Bakery
> Family-run sourdough bakery and café in Portland, Oregon, since 2009. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 7 am to 3 pm. Custom cakes and catering on request.
All bread is baked on site each morning. Gluten-free and vegan options are available every day. We deliver catering orders within 10 miles of downtown Portland.
## Products and prices
- [Bread and pastries](https://www.sunrisebakery.com/menu/): Daily menu with prices
- [Custom cakes](https://www.sunrisebakery.com/cakes/): Wedding and birthday cakes, order 7 days ahead
- [Catering](https://www.sunrisebakery.com/catering/): Breakfast boxes for offices and events
## Visit and contact
- [Opening hours and location](https://www.sunrisebakery.com/visit/): Address, parking, accessibility
- [Contact](https://www.sunrisebakery.com/contact/): Phone, email and order form
## Optional
- [Our story](https://www.sunrisebakery.com/about/): History of the bakery and team
- [Blog](https://www.sunrisebakery.com/blog/): Recipes and seasonal newsSummary line
> Welcome to our website! We are passionate about quality.
> Physiotherapy practice in Austin, TX. Sports injuries, back pain and post-surgery rehab. Most insurance accepted.
AI tools need facts: what you do, where, and for whom. Slogans add nothing.
Does llms.txt actually help? An honest answer
Short version: probably not much, at least not yet. Here is what is known as of late 2026:
- Google has said publicly that it does not use llms.txt for Search, and AI Overviews rely on normal Google crawling and indexing.
- No major AI company (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Perplexity) has confirmed that it uses llms.txt to rank, choose or cite sources.
- Some AI coding tools, agents and documentation platforms do read llms.txt, and some AI companies publish one for their own docs.
- Site owners who checked their server logs often report that AI crawlers rarely request the file.
So why add one? Because it is cheap. It takes ten minutes, costs nothing, can't hurt your rankings, and forces you to write a clear summary of your business, which is useful anyway. Just don't expect it to move the needle on its own.
Treat llms.txt as a nice extra, not a strategy. If you only have an hour for AI visibility, spend it on the steps in the next section first.
What matters more for showing up in AI answers
ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google's AI features build answers from pages they can crawl and trust. These steps have far more impact than llms.txt:
- Let AI search bots in. Make sure
OAI-SearchBot,Claude-SearchBotandPerplexityBotaren't blocked. Check with the robots.txt tester. - Put clear facts on your pages. Opening hours, prices, services, service area and address written as plain text, not hidden in images or PDFs.
- Add structured data. LocalBusiness, Product or FAQ markup states facts in a format machines read easily. The structured data generator helps.
- Get mentioned elsewhere. Reviews, local directories, press and industry sites. AI tools weigh what others say about you.
- Be indexed in Bing. ChatGPT search draws on several sources, including Bing. Set up Bing Webmaster Tools and submit your sitemap.
Our in-depth guide on getting recommended by ChatGPT explains each step. A quick SEO check shows basic problems on a page.
llms.txt vs. robots.txt vs. sitemap.xml
All three files live at the root of your domain, but they do very different jobs:
| robots.txt | sitemap.xml | llms.txt | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Says which URLs bots may crawl | Lists all URLs you want indexed | Summarizes your site for AI tools |
| Format | Plain text rules | XML | Markdown |
| Read by | All major search and AI crawlers | Search engines | Some AI tools and agents |
| Status | Official standard (RFC 9309) | Widely supported protocol | Community proposal |
| Location | /robots.txt | Usually /sitemap.xml | /llms.txt |
| Needed? | Recommended | Recommended | Optional |
llms.txt doesn't replace either of the others. It can't block bots and it doesn't help Google find your pages.
How to upload llms.txt to your website
Save the file as llms.txt (lowercase, UTF-8) and put it in the root folder of your site, the same place as robots.txt. Then open https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt in a browser to check that it shows as plain text.
- Classic hosting: Upload via FTP/SFTP or your host's file manager into the web root, often called
public_html,htdocsorwww. - WordPress: Upload the file to the WordPress root folder (where
wp-config.phplives), or use an SEO plugin that supports llms.txt. Some popular SEO plugins can generate one. - Wix, Squarespace and other hosted builders: These may not allow you to place arbitrary files at the root. Check your platform's help pages or settings; some have added their own llms.txt option.
- Shopify: You can't upload root files directly. Apps or a URL redirect are the usual workarounds.
If your site redirects /llms.txt to the homepage or a 404 page, the file isn't live yet.
Tips for a good llms.txt, plus llms-full.txt
- Keep it short. For a small business, 10 to 25 links are plenty.
- Only link to pages that are public and crawlable. A link to a blocked page is useless.
- Update it when prices, hours or services change. Outdated facts are worse than none.
- Write the summary in the main language of your customers.
The proposal also mentions llms-full.txt: one file that contains the full text of your important pages, so an AI tool can read everything in one request. It is mainly used by documentation sites. For a small business website it is rarely worth the upkeep.
If you'd rather not do it by hand, the RankTutor iPhone app can create an llms.txt for you and check whether AI crawlers can read your site.