llms.txt is a proposed standard file placed at a website's root that provides large language models with a clean, structured summary of the site's most important content. It aims to help AI systems understand a site efficiently, in the same spirit as robots.txt guiding search crawlers.

llms.txt is an emerging convention rather than a settled requirement, and adoption by AI providers is still uneven. It costs very little to implement, which makes it a reasonable low-effort bet if you are serious about AI visibility. Treat it as an inexpensive hedge, not a solution, and do not let it distract from the mentions that actually drive citation.

Example:

A root-level file summarizing your key pages and what your business does gives AI systems a clean reference, rather than leaving them to infer it from your navigation.

Is llms.txt an official standard?

It is a proposed convention rather than a formally adopted standard, and support among AI providers remains uneven. Implementation is cheap, so many treat it as a low-cost hedge.

How is llms.txt different from robots.txt?

robots.txt tells search crawlers what they may access. llms.txt aims to give language models a structured summary of the site's most important content.