the llms.txt file.
robots.txt told search crawlers what to read. llms.txt tells ai assistants who you are. here is how to write one.
llms.txt is a plain-text summary of your site for ai models — a clean, structured introduction to what you do. it is easy to add and helps assistants understand and represent you accurately.
as ai assistants increasingly read the web to answer questions, a new convention has emerged: a simple llms.txt file at the root of your site that hands models a clean, human-written summary of who you are and where the important pages live. think of it as a cover letter for the machines now reading you.
— 01what it is
llms.txt is a markdown file at your domain root (yoursite.com/llms.txt) that summarises your brand, lists your key pages, and gives context an assistant can use. it complements, not replaces, your sitemap and robots.txt.
— 02what to put in it
- a one-line description of what you do and for whom.
- your locations and the markets you serve.
- links to your most important pages, with a sentence on each.
- key facts: founding, specialisms, contact.
— 03why bother
a clean llms.txt reduces the chance an assistant misrepresents you and increases the chance it can accurately summarise and recommend your brand. it is low effort for a real upside as ai search grows.