What llms.txt is
llms.txt is a proposal for a short Markdown overview of your website, meant for language models. It is not a standard, and the large AI services have not said so far that they use the file.
How it works
The file sits at /llms.txt in the root directory of the website. In Markdown, a simple text format, it sums up what the website is about and links its most important pages. The idea: a language model should find the essentials without working its way through navigation, adverts and scripts.
The proposal dates from 2024 and describes a fixed structure:
- A first-level heading with the name of the website.
- A quote block (
>) with a short description. - Sections with second-level headings, each with a list of links and a short explanation for each.
What matters
- Only a hint. bytereport reports whether the file exists, but it does not count towards the score. As long as the large services don't use it, it brings no measurable visibility.
- The basics first. Allowed AI crawlers, text without JavaScript and clear Organization data work today; llms.txt replaces none of them.
- Real text, not HTML. The file must answer with status 200 and contain plain text. If the server returns an HTML page at
/llms.txt, such as an error page of the CMS, it counts as missing. - Little effort, little risk. If you create one, keep it short and current; outdated links do more harm than a missing file.
How to set it up
Create a text file llms.txt and upload it to the root directory of the website, yourself via FTP or through your agency or hosting provider. Some content management systems and SEO plugins generate it too. If the file is missing, bytereport suggests a template from the title and description of your start page, in German or English depending on the language of your site. It begins like this:
# Name of your website
> Short description from the start pageIt continues with a section headed ## Pages and a list of links, the start page first:
- [Home](https://example.com/)
- [Pricing](https://example.com/pricing): plans and prices at a glanceAdd the pages a model should know about there, such as your offering, pricing, about and contact pages, each with a short sentence after the link.