What is llms.txt?
A text file at the root of a website that tells an AI assistant what the site holds and where to read each page. Here is what the convention requires, what it leaves open, and how to add one even when your platform will not let you upload a file.
A table of contents written for machines
A web page is made for eyes: menus, banners, scripts, layout. An assistant such as ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity that reads it to answer has to sort through all that first. llms.txt spares it the sorting: a markdown file, served at /llms.txt, that introduces the site in a few lines and then lists its pages, each with a link and a sentence.
# Example Workshop
> Custom joinery in Annecy, France: kitchens, staircases, fitted interiors.
## Services
- [Custom kitchens](https://www.example.com/cuisines.md): design and fitting, quote within 48 hours
- [Staircases](https://www.example.com/escaliers.md): solid wood, straight or spiralThe convention was proposed in 2024 by Jeremy Howard (llmstxt.org). It is not an official standard, and no assistant commits to reading it. It is a simple way in that nothing forces anyone to use, and that costs nothing to put in place.
What the convention requires, and what it leaves open
Only one thing is required on your domain: the file has to answer at /llms.txt. Everything else can live elsewhere. The links it gives can lead to a markdown version of each page hosted on another domain, and a page can point to its llms.txt with a <link> tag in the <head>, at any address.
That is what makes the install possible everywhere, including on platforms that let you upload no file at all: we host the llms.txt, the markdown of each page and the tools, and your site simply points to them.
Two ways for an assistant to find it
- By reading one of your pages. A line in the <head>, <link rel="describedby">, tells it where the llms.txt is. Even a robot that runs no JavaScript reads it.
- By asking for /llms.txt directly, the way it asks for robots.txt, without reading any page. A redirect from /llms.txt to our address covers that case.
Nobody knows yet what share of reads arrives by each path. We measure it, since the two reach us at different addresses; until there are enough reads to tell, we recommend both.
When your platform already serves one
Since 2025, several platforms serve an llms.txt of their own: Shopify on every shop (sent on to its /agents.md page since May 2026), Wix, which generates one, Webflow, which lets you upload one, Squarespace on version 7.1, and WordPress plugins such as Yoast SEO or Rank Math. We do not ask you to replace it: the line in the <head> is enough to lead assistants to our fuller version, and our install guides say, platform by platform, what to do.
What llms.txt does not do
It does not lift a site in Google, and it does not guarantee being quoted by an assistant. It makes your site easier to read for those who look for it: what the page says, an assistant finds without guessing. An llms.txt written once and never revisited soon goes wrong; ours is rewritten every time we read your site again.