llms.txt Explained: What It Is and Does Your Website Need One?

What is llms.txt?

llms.txt is a proposed convention, introduced by Jeremy Howard of Answer.AI in September 2024, for helping large language models use a website. Web pages are full of navigation, scripts and ads that waste a model’s limited context. llms.txt offers a clean, human-readable shortcut: who you are, and links to the pages worth reading, each with a one-line description.

How is llms.txt different from robots.txt and sitemap.xml?

They work together. llms.txt does not grant or block access; that remains the job of robots.txt, which you can build with our AI Robots.txt Generator.

What does an llms.txt file look like?

The format is simple Markdown: an H1 with your name, a blockquote summary, optional notes, then H2 sections containing link lists.

# Acme Dental Clinic

> Family and cosmetic dental clinic in Toronto, Canada. Open 7 days, accepts most insurance plans.

## Services
- [Dental implants](https://acme.ca/implants/): Single and full-arch implants, pricing and recovery
- [Invisalign](https://acme.ca/invisalign/): Clear aligner treatment for adults and teens

## Company
- [About us](https://acme.ca/about/): Dentists, qualifications and clinic history
- [Contact](https://acme.ca/contact/): Address, hours, phone and booking

## Optional
- [Blog](https://acme.ca/blog/): Patient guides and FAQs

The “Optional” section signals pages a model can skip when context is short.

Does your website need llms.txt?

Add one if any of these apply:

• You sell services or software that people research through AI assistants.
• You have documentation, pricing or policy pages you want quoted accurately.
• Your site is large and the important pages are hard to spot.

Keep expectations realistic. llms.txt will not make ChatGPT recommend you by itself. Crawl access, consistent entity data and third-party mentions matter far more. See our guide on how to get recommended by ChatGPT.

How do you create llms.txt in WordPress?

1. Open our free llms.txt Generator and import your sitemap.
2. Keep 10 to 30 of your most important URLs and write a one-line description for each.
3. Upload the file to your site root, or generate it dynamically with a small plugin or snippet.
4. Confirm it loads at /llms.txt with a text/plain content type.
5. Update it whenever you launch a major page.

Tip: some hosting plugins create their own llms.txt automatically. Check that only one version is served and that it reflects your real priorities.

What mistakes should you avoid?

• Listing every URL. That is what your sitemap is for.
• Marketing fluff in the summary. State facts: what, who for, where.
• Linking to pages that are blocked in robots.txt or return errors.
• Forgetting to update it after a redesign.

We set up llms.txt, robots rules and AI visibility tracking as part of our AI SEO service. Get a free audit.

Frequently asked questions