What llms.txt does, and doesn't
In short
llms.txt is a Markdown file at the root of your site that tells an AI what your business is. It helps an assistant read about you, and it can name your doors, but on its own it doesn't let an assistant ask, book or order.
What an assistant needs
To speak for you, an assistant needs to know what your business is and where the details are. To act for its person, it needs a door. llms.txt helps it learn about you, and can point it to a door.
What it is
llms.txt is a proposal from 2024 (llmstxt.org): a Markdown file at /llms.txt with your name, a short summary, and links to the pages and documents an AI should read. Think of it as a map of your site, written for a machine.
What it does
- It helps an assistant read about you: what you do, where, for whom, and where the details are.
- It can name your doors. A line that says what an address is (“MCP server: https://…”) is how many readers, ours included, find a door that has no well-known file of its own. See findable doors for the lines we read.
- It can carry a basket hand-off or an order lookup, which a reader can act on.
What it doesn’t do
- It doesn’t let an assistant ask, book, order or pay. Those need a door: a tool, an API or an inbox that takes the request.
- It isn’t read by every AI. Some read it and some don’t; it costs little to publish, so it’s worth having.
- It doesn’t replace your markup. Hours, prices and terms are read more reliably as schema.org data (your details as data).
What to put in it
# Your Business
> A bike workshop: repairs, servicing and parts. Open Monday to Saturday.
## About
- Services and prices: https://yourbusiness.example/services
- Opening hours and where we are: https://yourbusiness.example/visit
## For AI agents
- MCP server (streamable HTTP): https://agent.yourbusiness.example/mcp
- Order lookup API: POST https://yourbusiness.example/api/orders/lookupWrite each door’s line so its words say what it is, keep the addresses on your own domain, and keep the file short.
What counts in the check
On its own, llms.txt earns no points: it makes a site readable, not usable. We follow the doors it names on your domain and its subdomains, and each door then counts for what it does.
Check it worked
Once your change is live, check your site. We read it the way a customer's assistant would, and show what it can do there now, and what's still missing.
Or open the checker. If your site was read recently, you'll see that read, and when you can ask for a fresh one.
See it working
On the leaderboards, with what an agent can do at each one and through which door.