Glossary
llms.txt
An emerging convention (a single markdown file at /llms.txt) that helps AI engines understand a site's structure and identify high-value pages.
By Teeming Chew, Founder Last updated
The llms.txt file is a proposed standard (Answer.AI, 2024) for sites to expose a curated, AI-friendly map of their content. It sits at the domain root as /llms.txt and is plain markdown: typically a hierarchy of section headings with descriptions and links to canonical pages.
Is llms.txt actually used by AI engines?
Adoption is early but accelerating. Anthropic publishes one, Mintlify auto-generates them, and several AI engines have indicated they ingest llms.txt as a hint about which URLs are most important.
What goes in an llms.txt file?
A brief site description, then a curated list of canonical URLs grouped by topic: typically with a one-line description for each. The companion llms-full.txt may include the full text of those pages.
Part of the Cite Hustle GEO glossary: definitions for generative engine optimization and AI search. See how it fits the bigger picture in the GEO methodology.