Agent Readiness Recommended Updated 2026-05-29

/llms.txt

A proposed markdown file at the site root that gives LLMs a curated index of your most important content. Emerging convention, not a ratified standard.

What it is

/llms.txt is a proposed convention for a markdown file served at the root of a site. It gives large language models a short, curated map of the content you most want them to see. The proposal lives at llmstxt.org and was put forward by Jeremy Howard in 2024.

It is not a ratified standard. No major model vendor has committed to consuming it. Treat it as a low-cost bet that may pay off as agents look for cheap, authoritative summaries of a site.

The file is plain markdown with a defined structure: a top-level heading with the site name, a short blockquote summary, optional context paragraphs, and one or more ## sections containing markdown links.

# Example Corp

> Example Corp builds open-source tools for static-site authors.

We publish documentation, a blog, and reference specifications.

## Docs

- [Getting started](https://example.com/docs/start.md): Install and first build.
- [API reference](https://example.com/docs/api.md): All public functions.

## Optional

- [Changelog](https://example.com/changelog.md): Release notes.

Why it matters

It is short. A model can read it in one fetch and learn what your site is about without crawling everything.
It is curated. You decide which pages matter, in which order.
It is markdown. No parsing of HTML, no JavaScript, no ads to strip.
It complements sitemap.xml, which is exhaustive and machine-only. llms.txt is selective and human-readable too.

The cost is low: one file, updated when your information architecture changes.

How to implement

Place the file at https://example.com/llms.txt. Serve as text/markdown or text/plain.
Start with # Site name on the first line. Follow with a > blockquote summary.
Use ## headings to group links. Links should point to canonical pages.
Prefer markdown versions of pages where you have them — many sites publish page.md alongside page.html.
Keep it under a few hundred lines. If you want full content, see /llms-full.txt.
Link to it from your homepage or footer so humans can find it too.

Common mistakes

Treating it like a sitemap and listing every URL. The point is curation.
Writing marketing copy in the summary. Models will quote it; write plainly.
Letting it drift. A stale llms.txt is worse than none — it teaches models wrong things.
Assuming any specific model uses it today. Adoption is uneven and not always disclosed.

Verification

Fetch https://example.com/llms.txt and confirm a 200 with markdown content.
Validate the structure against the example on llmstxt.org.
Re-check after every information-architecture change.

Sources & further reading

The /llms.txt proposal — llmstxt.org
Is It Agent Ready? — Is It Agent Ready?