llms.txt
Definition
llms.txt is a proposed Markdown file at a site's root that gives AI tools a short site summary and a hand-picked list of links to its key pages.
Updated
How it works
Jeremy Howard of Answer.AI proposed the format in September 2024 (llmstxt.org (opens in a new tab)). The file lives at /llms.txt and has a simple structure:
- An H1 with the site or project name, the only required part.
- A blockquote with a short summary.
- Optional paragraphs with key details.
- H2 sections listing links, each with a short note, plus an optional section that tools may skip when space is tight.
The idea is that a model with a limited context window reads one clean file instead of parsing navigation, scripts and cookie banners. Some sites also publish llms-full.txt, a single file with the full text of key pages. That is a community convention; the spec does not define it.
How businesses use it
The main readers today are developer tools and agents that a person points at a site, for example a coding assistant asked to read a product's documentation. We have not seen any major AI search engine document llms.txt as a ranking or citation input.
Google is explicit about its own Search. Its AI optimization guide says you do not need AI text files or Markdown versions of pages, that "Google Search itself doesn't use them", and that publishing them neither helps nor harms your visibility (Google AI optimization guide (opens in a new tab)).
So for most businesses it is a small, cheap addition, worth an hour and no more. We generate it from the same content source as the site so it never drifts from the pages, and keep it to what a buyer or agent needs: services, pricing, contact.
Where it goes wrong
The main mistake is expecting it to move rankings or AI citations. It changes nothing in Google Search, and an agency selling llms.txt as a GEO tactic is overselling it.
Other common problems:
- Facts or prices in the file that differ from the live pages, which means publishing two versions of your own business.
- Hundreds of links with no notes, which defeats the point of a short index.
- Promotional instructions to AI models written into the file. That is a form of prompt injection, and it costs trust with anyone who reads it.
Find out where this fits in your own systems
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