What is llms.txt?▾
A proposed markdown file at the root of a website that gives AI agents a short map of it: an H1 with the name, a 1-line summary, then H2 sections of links with notes. Jeremy Howard proposed it on 3 Sep 2024, and version 2 is dated 10 Aug 2026. It is a proposal, not a web standard.
Does llms.txt help SEO or Google rankings?▾
No. Google’s AI optimization guide says Google Search ignores llms.txt files, so keeping one neither helps nor harms rankings, in AI Overviews and AI Mode too. Google added that note on 15 Jun 2026.
Does ChatGPT use llms.txt?▾
OpenAI does not say so: its crawler page covers robots.txt tokens only. In Ahrefs’ May 2026 log data, GPTBot was the AI bot that fetched llms.txt files most often, but a crawler fetching a file does not show that answers use it.
Do Claude and Perplexity read llms.txt?▾
Neither company documents it. Their crawler pages cover robots.txt only, though both publish llms.txt files for their own developer docs. Ahrefs saw Claude Code, Anthropic’s coding tool, among the top fetchers of llms.txt files, which fits the proposal’s main use: coding agents reading documentation.
Is llms.txt the same as robots.txt?▾
No. robots.txt tells crawlers what they may fetch, and AI companies document their robots.txt tokens, such as GPTBot and ClaudeBot. llms.txt grants and blocks nothing; it only describes your site. Put access rules in robots.txt.
Where do I put my llms.txt file?▾
At the root of your site, so it loads at https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt, as plain UTF-8 text with status 200. Version 2 of the proposal also allows a file under a path, such as /docs/llms.txt, which covers only the pages below it.
What is llms-full.txt?▾
A convention from documentation platforms, not part of the proposal: the full text of every docs page in 1 file. It can be huge (Anthropic’s was about 49 MB on 4 Nov 2026), so it suits documentation and APIs more than business sites.
Do I need an llms.txt file?▾
Not for Google. It takes a few minutes and helps agents that read it, mostly coding tools on documentation and API sites. Our view: if you sell services, spend your effort first on the pages AI answers cite, and add llms.txt as a tidy extra.
Is this llms.txt generator free and private?▾
Yes. It is free, needs no account and runs in your browser: nothing you type is sent to us or to any server, and the tool never visits the URLs you enter. Copy the result or download it as llms.txt.
How often should I update llms.txt?▾
Whenever prices, products or important URLs change. An agent that reads an old file gets old facts, so put the date of your last review in the details line.