# XML Sitemap

> A machine-readable file listing a site's URLs so crawlers and agents can discover every page without following links.

_The Agentic Web Lexicon · /glossary/sitemap · [JSON](/api/glossary/sitemap) · [all The Agentic Web Lexicon](/glossary)_

- **term:** XML Sitemap
- **category:** optimization
- **short_def:** A machine-readable file listing a site's URLs so crawlers and agents can discover every page without following links.
- **long_def:** An XML sitemap enumerates a site's canonical URLs (optionally with last-modified dates and priorities) at /sitemap.xml, giving crawlers a complete, authoritative index instead of relying on link discovery. For agents, it is the fast path to the full surface area of a site — a discovery affordance alongside llms.txt and robots.txt.
- **see_also:** llms-txt, robots-txt, ai-crawler
- **etymology_origin:** — (verify-against-primary-at-build)
- **related_to:** llms-txt, robots-txt, ai-crawler, content-negotiation
- **contrast_with:** Unlike robots.txt, which states what may be crawled, a sitemap states what exists — the enumerated list of pages an agent can retrieve.
- **example:** An agent that reads /sitemap.xml learns every page of a site in one request, instead of crawling link by link.
- **source:** https://www.sitemaps.org/protocol.html
- **status:** active
- **why_it_matters:** The sitemap is a Discovery-dimension signal in the Agent-Readiness Audit; a complete, canonical sitemap is the lowest-cost way to make your whole surface discoverable to agents.
- **sameAs:** https://www.sitemaps.org/protocol.html
- **bridge_entity:** llms-txt
- **last_verified:** 2026-07-06
- **md_twin:** /glossary/sitemap.md