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The llms.txt Standard

Understanding the llms.txt standard for AI-readable documentation.

What is llms.txt?

The llms.txt standard is a convention for providing documentation in a format optimized for Large Language Models (LLMs).

Similar to how robots.txt tells search engines how to crawl a site, llms.txt provides AI assistants with structured documentation.

File Locations

File Purpose
/llms.txt Concise overview and key information
/llms-full.txt Complete documentation

Format

llms.txt files are plain markdown:

# Project Name

> Brief description

## Section 1

Content...

## Section 2

Content...

Why It Matters

For AI Assistants:

  • Structured content that's easy to parse
  • No HTML/CSS/JS to filter out
  • Complete documentation in one request

For Developers:

  • AI assistants give better answers about your product
  • Reduces hallucination by providing accurate source material
  • One source of truth for AI-consumed docs

Adoption

Sites with llms.txt support include:

Adding llms.txt to Your Site

Option 1: Manual

Create /public/llms.txt or /public/llms-full.txt with your documentation in markdown format.

Option 2: Automated

Documentation platforms like Mintlify automatically generate llms.txt from your docs.

Best Practices:

  • Include all essential documentation
  • Use clear markdown headers
  • Keep content up to date with your main docs
  • Provide both concise (llms.txt) and full (llms-full.txt) versions

Learn More