llms.txt: what it is and how to add one to your site

As people move from searching Google to asking ChatGPT and Perplexity, a new question matters: can AI engines understand your site well enough to cite it? llms.txt is an emerging standard that helps them do exactly that. It is low effort, and it already puts you ahead of most sites, which do not have one yet.

What llms.txt is

llms.txt is a plain Markdown file you place at the root of your domain, at yoursite.com/llms.txt. It gives AI crawlers a clean, structured summary of your site: what you do, who you serve, and links to your most important pages with a short description of each. Think of it as a curated map written for machines, the way robots.txt is written for crawlers and sitemap.xml for search engines.

Why it matters for AI visibility

AI engines have to wade through a lot of messy HTML to work out what a site is about. llms.txt hands them the answer directly, in the clearest possible form. That makes your key facts easier to understand, trust, and quote.

• It states your positioning in plain language an AI can lift verbatim.
• It points crawlers to the pages you most want cited, each with context.
• It signals that your site is built with AI search in mind.

What goes in an llms.txt file

1. 1. A title and one-line summary.

   Your business name as a heading, then a short blockquote describing what you do in a sentence.

2. 2. A context paragraph.

   A few sentences on who you are, what you offer, and how you work.

3. 3. Sections of links.

   Group your key pages (Services, Tools, Blog, Contact) under headings, each link followed by a short description of what it is.

4. 4. A citation note (optional).

   How you want to be referenced: the correct business name, the domain, and any naming rules.

How to create and publish one

1. 1. Draft it.

   Write it by hand, or use our free llms.txt generator to produce a clean file from your site details in a minute.

2. 2. Save it as llms.txt.

   Plain text with Markdown formatting, named exactly llms.txt.

3. 3. Publish it at your root.

   Upload it so it is reachable at yoursite.com/llms.txt, the same level as robots.txt. On most platforms that is the public or static folder.

4. 4. Keep it current.

   Update it when you add important pages, so the map stays accurate.

llms.txt vs robots.txt vs sitemap.xml

They are complementary, not alternatives. You want all three:

• robots.txt tells crawlers what they may and may not access.
• sitemap.xml lists every URL for search engines to crawl.
• llms.txt explains, in plain language, what your site is and which pages matter, for AI engines.

One catch: make sure your robots.txt also allows the AI crawlers (GPTBot, PerplexityBot, and others), or your llms.txt will never be read.

Build yours now

The fastest way to get one live is to generate it:

Frequently asked questions