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llms.txt Implementation Guide: Templates, Validation, and Deployment

A practical, step-by-step guide to creating, validating, and deploying llms.txt so AI crawlers can discover and use your content reliably.

Use llms.txt to explicitly guide AI crawlers to your most useful content, sitemaps, and rules; below are copy‑ready templates, deployment steps, and validation checks.

What is llms.txt (in practice)?

llms.txt is an emerging convention (similar in spirit to robots.txt) that points large language models to high‑signal resources: sitemaps, canonical content hubs, FAQs, and machine-friendly text assets. Support varies across LLMs, so think of it as a low-friction hint file that improves AI crawlability when used alongside sound AEO.

Where to place it

  • Path: https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt (or your AI subdomain if you publish there)
  • MIME type: text/plain (text/markdown is typically fine as well)
  • Reference it (commented) in robots.txt to aid discovery

Example robots.txt comments (kept as comments for compliance):

# LLMs Files# llms.txt: https://ai.example.com/llms.txt# llms.json: https://ai.example.com/llms.json

Copy-ready llms.txt templates

Minimal starter

# [Company name][Company description][Other relevant info]

Enriched for FAQs, product docs, and data files

# [Company name][Company description and other relevant info][Other relevant info][Page list]  [Page title]  [Page summary]  [Page link]  ...[End page list]

Notes:

  • Prefer stable, indexable URLs that return 200 and are readable without JavaScript.

Deployment checklist

  1. Publish at /llms.txt on the domain(s) you want crawled
  2. Ensure 200 OK, cacheable, and not blocked by robots.txt
  3. Add commented pointers in robots.txt and include your AI subdomain sitemap(s)
  4. Keep URLs current—avoid redirects and expiring links
  5. Update when you add new answer hubs, txt assets, or sitemaps

Validation (there’s no official validator yet)

Because llms.txt isn’t a ratified standard, validation is pragmatic:

  • Fetch test: curl -I https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt → 200 OK, text/plain
  • Link check: every URL resolves (200), no login required
  • Crawlability: linked pages are indexable, fast, and render without JS
  • Spot test in LLMs: ask AI tools about topics you cover; monitor for AI bot hits and LLM referrals in your logs/analytics over time

Maintenance best practices

  • Prefer evergreen hubs over ephemeral posts
  • Mirror key resources between your main domain and AI subdomain if you use both
  • Pair llms.txt with structured, chunkable content (clear headings, Q&A blocks)

FAQs

  • Does every AI respect llms.txt? Support is emerging; treat it as a helpful hint, not a guarantee.
  • Should I include every page? No—link to sitemaps and a concise set of high-signal hubs and txt assets.
  • Do I need llms.json? Optional. If you publish machine-readable manifests, link them; ensure they’re stable and minimal.