llms.txt
A markdown file at the domain root that gives language models a curated map of a site's most important content.
- name
- llms.txt
- full_name
- llms.txt
- layer
- discovery
- creator
- Jeremy Howard (Answer.AI)
- status
- widely adopted (~10% of studied sites)
- year
- 2024
- one_liner
- A markdown file at the domain root that gives language models a curated map of a site's most important content.
- spec_url
- https://llmstxt.org
- snippet
# Site Name > One-line description. ## Core - [Page](/page.md): what it is- abbreviation
- llms.txt
- also_known_as
/llms.txtllms.txt standard- canonical_spec_url
- https://llmstxt.org
- entity_uri
- https://llmstxt.org
- taxonomy_layer
- discovery
- sub_layer
- site-summary-file
- protocol_type
- declaration
- central_problem
- Gives language models a curated, markdown map of a site's most important content so they don't have to parse complex HTML, ads, or JavaScript.
- maintainer
- Jeremy Howard / Answer.AI + community (llmstxt.org)
- governance_body
- none (community proposal)
- license
- Apache-2.0 verify-against-primary-at-build ↗ https://github.com/AnswerDotAI/llms-txt
- maturity_tag
- emerging
- current_spec_version
- — verify-against-primary-at-build ↗ https://llmstxt.org
- spec_date
- — verify-against-primary-at-build ↗ https://llmstxt.org
- launch_date
- 2024-09-03
- last_verified
- 2026-06-15
- transport
- Static markdown file at the domain root
- core_mechanism
- A markdown file at /llms.txt uses a fixed shape — H1 site name, a blockquote summary, then sectioned lists of links with short descriptions — so an LLM gets a concise, parseable map of the site's key pages (often with .md twins).
- discovery_endpoint
- /llms.txt (and the fuller /llms-full.txt)
- settlement_type
- —
- adoption_metric
- Approximately 10% of studied sites by May 2026; adopters include Anthropic, Stripe, Cloudflare, Vercel, Mintlify, Supabase source
- notable_adopters
{"value":"Anthropic","source":"https://codersera.com/blog/llms-txt-complete-guide-2026/"}{"value":"Stripe","source":"https://codersera.com/blog/llms-txt-complete-guide-2026/"}- relationships
{"predicate":"complements","target":"agents-json","note":"llms.txt declares content; agents.json declares APIs/workflows — paired Layer-1 discovery files."}- ideal_use_case
- Helping LLMs find and quote the right pages on a content/documentation site.
- when_to_use
- When you want models to read and cite your most important content — the cheapest, first agent-readiness step.
- when_not_to_use
- When agents need to take actions or call functions (use MCP/WebMCP/agents.json), not just read curated links.
- code_example
- # Acme Docs > Acme's developer documentation. ## Core - [Quickstart](/quickstart.md): get started in 5 minutes - [API Reference](/api.md): every endpoint
- source
- Origin proposal (Jeremy Howard, Answer.AI), 2024-09-03: https://www.answer.ai/posts/2024-09-03-llmstxt.html . Spec home: https://llmstxt.org .
- agent_readiness_link
- agent-readiness/llms-txt
- layer_legacy
- content