agentsiteaudit · Checks · AI agent readiness

llms.txt: how to add a guide for AI agents to your website

An llms.txt file is a short guide to your website written for AI agents and assistants. It sits at the top of your site, at /llms.txt, and tells them in plain text who you are, what you offer and which pages matter most.

It was proposed in 2024 and is now used by a growing number of sites, especially those that want AI agents to find and use their services. It is optional, it takes a few minutes to write, and it is not a ranking factor for Google Search. Its job is to help AI tools, not search engines.

In our November 2026 study of businesses selling to AI agents, 59% of the 1,181 websites we checked had no usable llms.txt. See the full study.

Why it matters

When an AI agent visits your site for a user, it has to work out quickly what you do and where the useful pages are. A homepage built for people, with menus, banners and scripts, makes that slow and error-prone.

An llms.txt file gives the agent a clean map instead: your name, a one-line description, and links to the pages that answer the most common questions. You decide what it reads first.

What our check looks for

• Pass: A plain-text /llms.txt with a title and links
• Warning: Missing, or no title or links

Check ID agents.llms_txt.present · AI agent readiness · Low priority

How to fix it

Example llms.txt

# Your Business Name

> One sentence saying what you do and who for.

Any short notes an agent should know, such as opening hours or how to book.

## Main pages

- [Services](https://www.example.co.uk/services/): what we offer and prices
- [Contact](https://www.example.co.uk/contact/): phone, email and address
- [FAQ](https://www.example.co.uk/faq/): answers to common questions

## Optional

- [About us](https://www.example.co.uk/about/): our history

Start with a "# " title line, then a short summary, then sections of links. Use full https:// addresses.

Upload it

/llms.txt

Save the file as llms.txt and upload it to the top folder of your website, the same folder as your homepage and robots.txt. It must open at https://your-site/llms.txt.

Apache and most cPanel hosting

# Nothing to change: .txt files are already
# served as text/plain by default.

If your site is on cPanel, upload the file to public_html with File Manager.

Nginx

location = /llms.txt {
    default_type text/plain;
    charset utf-8;
}

Only needed if your server does not already serve .txt files as plain text.

WordPress

Upload llms.txt to the same folder as wp-config.php,
using your host's File Manager or FTP.

Some SEO plugins can create the file for you. If you use one, open the address afterwards and check the links in it work.

Common mistakes

• Putting the file in the wrong place, such as /docs/llms.txt. Agents look at the top of the site.
• A missing file that shows your normal homepage instead of a "not found" page, so the address seems to work but returns HTML.
• Links that no longer work. Our separate check, llms.txt links work, opens each one.
• Writing a long marketing page. Keep it short and factual; link to detail rather than repeating it.
• Listing pages that are blocked by robots.txt, so agents are pointed at pages they are told not to read.

Related checks

• AI crawlers and robots.txt: let AI agents read your website
• Tell AI agents who your business is: name and contact details as structured data

Written by Derek Moore, who builds and runs websites for small UK businesses. Last checked 30 October 2026.