llms.txt is a proposed convention: a Markdown file at your site root that gives AI agents a short, curated guide to your content. It is informal, not a standard, and Google says its AI features do not need AI specific text files. For a docs site it is cheap to publish and unproven as a lever.
What the proposal describes
The proposal comes from Jeremy Howard and was first published on 3 September 2024. The site hosting it shows a version modified on 10 August 2026. It says the file lives at /llms.txt or at a subpath such as /docs/llms.txt, and that agents should use the most specific file that applies.
The format is fixed:
- A required H1 naming the project.
- A blockquote summary.
- Optional detail text.
- H2 sections that hold lists of links, each with a name, a URL and optional notes.
- An Optional section for secondary links that can be skipped when context is limited.
The proposal also suggests clean Markdown versions of pages, such as page.md, linked from the HTML.
A minimal example
# Acme CLI
> Command line tool for scanning dependencies. Docs cover install, configuration and exit codes.
## Docs
- [Install](https://example.com/docs/install.md): supported platforms and installers
- [Configuration](https://example.com/docs/config.md): config file keys
## Optional
- [Release notes](https://example.com/changelog.md)
What is and is not known
The proposal page says thousands of sites publish the file and that some documentation platforms generate it. That describes adoption, not effect on citations.
Google's AI features documentation says you do not need new machine readable files, AI specific text files, markup or special schema.org structured data. So for Google's features the file is not a requirement. The pages I checked did not say how other assistants treat it, so do not assume any one of them reads it.
A reasonable decision rule
Publish one if three things are true. You maintain a docs site with stable, well organized pages. You can generate the file from your nav so it never drifts. And you accept that the benefit is uncertain.
Skip it if you would have to hand maintain it. A stale index that points at moved pages is worse than none. If a link in it returns a 404, you have published an error.
Do not put anything in it you would not publish openly. It is a public file, and robots.txt style access rules do not apply to it.
What helps either way
The same effort that produces a good llms.txt also helps everyone: stable URLs, one topic per page, clear titles, and an index page that links everything. Do that first. See docs site structure by reader need.
Quick check
Is llms.txt an official standard?
No. Its own page calls it a proposal that is informal and open for community input.
Will adding it get me cited by AI assistants?
There is no documented guarantee. Treat it as a low cost experiment and measure.
Sources
Last reviewed: 19 October 2026.
