What Is llms.txt? How the File Works and Whether You Need It
What Is llms.txt — in short: What Is llms.txt review: llms.txt is a proposed Markdown file that gives AI assistants a short map of your Read the full review and get yours today.
llms.txt is a proposed plain-text file, written in Markdown, that sits at the root of a website (for example example.com/llms.txt) and gives AI assistants a short, curated summary of the site and links to its most useful pages. Jeremy Howard proposed it in September 2024. It is a community proposal, not an official web standard, and Google has said it does not use it.
What does an llms.txt file look like?
The llms.txt proposal describes a simple structure. The sections come in this order:
- A title: one H1 heading with the name of the site or project. This is the only required part.
- A summary: a short blockquote that says what the site is.
- Optional paragraphs: a little more context, with no headings.
- Link sections: zero or more H2 headings, each followed by a Markdown list of links. Every item is a link, and it can be followed by a colon and a short note about what the page contains.
A section called Optional has a special meaning in the proposal: the links in it can be skipped when a short context is needed.
Here is a small example for an imaginary bakery:
# Rosa's Bakery
> Neighbourhood bakery in Lyon. Sourdough, pastries and made-to-order cakes. Open Tuesday to Sunday.
## Menu and prices
- [Bread and pastries](https://example.com/menu): what we bake each day
- [Cakes](https://example.com/cakes): sizes, flavours and how to order
## Visit us
- [Opening hours and address](https://example.com/visit)
## Optional
- [Our story](https://example.com/about)How is llms.txt different from robots.txt and sitemap.xml?
All three live at the root of a site, which is why they get mixed up. They do different jobs.
| llms.txt | robots.txt | sitemap.xml | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | A short, readable guide to the site for AI assistants | Tells crawlers which paths they may fetch | Lists the URLs you want search engines to find |
| Format | Markdown | Plain text rules | XML |
| Allows or blocks crawlers | No | Yes | No |
The point that matters most: llms.txt does not control access. If you want to allow or block a crawler, that is still done in robots.txt.
Does Google use llms.txt?
No. John Mueller of Google said that no AI system currently uses llms.txt, as reported by Search Engine Roundtable. Gary Illyes said Google does not support it and is not planning to, and Google's guidance is that ordinary SEO is what counts for AI Overviews and AI Mode, with no special files needed, as covered by Search Engine Land.
The proposal's own site describes much wider interest from documentation tools and AI companies. Both things can be true: some people publish the file and some tools read it, while the largest search engine ignores it. Nobody has shown that publishing one improves rankings or makes AI assistants cite you more.
Should you publish an llms.txt file?
What Is llms.txt costs about ten minutes and it cannot hurt a site, so it is a fair experiment. Just be honest with yourself about what to expect.
- It makes the most sense for sites where an assistant benefits from a clean list of pages: documentation, APIs, product manuals, course sites.
- Do not expect rankings. Google does not read it. Your titles, content quality, links and page speed matter far more.
- Keep it short. Link to the pages you would send a new person to first, not to every URL.
To make one, you can write the Markdown by hand, or fill in the form of the free llms.txt builder and copy the result. Save it as llms.txt and upload it to the root folder of your site, then open yoursite.com/llms.txt to check it loads.
What mistakes do people make with llms.txt?
- Treating it as robots.txt. It does not block anything.
- Expecting Google rankings from it. Google has said it does not use the file.
- Listing every page. The idea is a curated guide. A long dump of URLs is just a second sitemap.
- Letting it go stale. If a linked page moves or disappears, update the file.
FAQ
Is llms.txt an official standard?
No. It is a proposal from Jeremy Howard, published in September 2024, and no standards body has adopted it.
Where do I put the llms.txt file?
At the root of your site, so it loads at yoursite.com/llms.txt. The proposal also allows a file in a subpath, such as a documentation folder.
Does llms.txt block AI crawlers?
No. To allow or block a crawler, use robots.txt.
Does Google support llms.txt?
No. Google representatives have said no AI system they know of uses it and that Google does not support it.
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Last updated: 4 October 2026.
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