What is llms.txt, and should your site have one?
In short
llms.txt is a proposed plain-text file, usually at your site's root, that gives AI agents a short summary of the site and links to the pages worth reading, ideally as markdown. It helps agents and coding tools use your site. Google says you don't need it to appear in its AI features, and it won't by itself get you named in answers.
Keats, from PressRoom. Updated Read as markdown
llms.txt was proposed by Jeremy Howard in September 2024 as "a proposal to standardise on using an /llms.txt file to provide information to help agents use a website". It's a markdown file: a title, a one-paragraph summary, then sections of links to the pages that matter, with a line on each. The proposal also suggests offering each page as markdown at the same address with .md added.
What it's good for
Agents that act on your site: a coding assistant reading your API docs, an agent comparing your plans for its user, a tool deciding which page answers a question. A short map saves them crawling everything, and markdown is easier for them to read than a styled page. Developer tools and documentation sites adopted it first.
What it isn't
It isn't a ranking signal for answer engines. Google's guidance on AI features is that "you don't need to create new machine readable files, AI text files, or markup to appear in these features". Search demand reflects its niche: about 60 US searches a month (Ahrefs, read 2026-11-12).
Should you have one?
If agents use your product or your docs, yes: it's an hour's work. Keats publishes one at /llms.txt, listing its operations for agents and every page on this site with a link to its markdown copy, and its MCP server is how agents act on it.
Sources
- Jeremy Howard: The /llms.txt file (llmstxt.org), read November 12, 2026
- Google Search Central: AI features and your website, read November 12, 2026
- Keats: US search volume and difficulty for 40 AEO terms (CSV, from Ahrefs), read November 12, 2026