# What Is llms.txt? A Plain Explanation > llms.txt is a Markdown file at a website’s root that gives AI tools a short summary of the site and links to key pages. What it does and what it does not do. Source: https://pentaclay.com/glossary/llms-txt Glossary # What is llms.txt? llms.txt is a plain Markdown file placed at the root of a website (yoursite.com/llms.txt) that gives large language models a short summary of the site and a curated list of links to its most useful pages. ## Where it comes from The format was proposed in September 2024 by Jeremy Howard of Answer.AI. The idea is simple: web pages are full of menus, scripts and layout that make them slow for an AI model to read, so a site can offer one clean file that says what the company is and where the important information lives. A typical llms.txt has an H1 with the site name, a short summary in a blockquote, and sections of links, each with a one-line note. Some sites also publish llms-full.txt, which holds the full text of key pages in one file. ## What it does not do llms.txt is a proposal, not an official web standard. It does not control access the way robots.txt does, and major search engines have not said they use it for ranking. Some AI tools and developer products read it, especially for documentation, and support is uneven. That makes it cheap insurance rather than a growth lever: it takes an hour to write well and does no harm, but it will not fix a site that crawlers cannot read. ## Why it matters for B2B websites B2B companies are often described wrongly by AI assistants: an old product name, a category they left, a missing service. A well-written llms.txt states the current facts in your own words, in one place, with links to the pages that prove them. ## Example - \# Company name - \> One-paragraph summary: what you sell, who it is for, where you work - \## Services, with a link and one line for each - \## Proof, with links to case studies - \## Company, with links to pricing, about and contact ## How we handle it We write llms.txt from the same approved copy as the site, so it never contradicts the pages, and update it when services or pages change. pentaclay.com publishes one at /llms.txt. It sits alongside the work that matters more: HTML pages, open robots.txt rules and clear content, which our [AI search optimization](https://pentaclay.com/services/ai-search-optimization) service covers. Read next - [AI search optimization](https://pentaclay.com/services/ai-search-optimization) Last updated 15 November 2026 Related terms ## Terms that go with llms.txt - [robots.txt robots.txt is a plain text file at the root of a website (yoursite.com/robots.txt) that tells crawlers, such as Googlebot or AI bots like GPTBot and ClaudeBot, which parts of the site they are allowed to fetch.](https://pentaclay.com/glossary/robots-txt) - [Generative engine optimization (GEO) Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the practice of making a website’s content easy for AI systems that write answers, such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google’s AI Overviews, to find, understand and cite as a source.](https://pentaclay.com/glossary/generative-engine-optimization) - [Answer engine optimization (AEO) Answer engine optimization (AEO) is the practice of structuring a website’s content so that search features and AI assistants can lift it as a direct answer to a question, and name or link the source.](https://pentaclay.com/glossary/answer-engine-optimization) - [Sitemap A sitemap is a file, usually sitemap.xml at the root of a website, that lists the URLs a site wants search engines to find, often with the date each page last changed.](https://pentaclay.com/glossary/xml-sitemap) [All glossary terms](https://pentaclay.com/glossary) ## Questions about llms.txt ### Can’t find your answer? Book a call and let’s talk. [Book a call](https://cal.com/pentaclay/discovery-call) Or email us at [contact@pentaclay.com](mailto:contact@pentaclay.com) Is llms.txt the same as robots.txt? No. robots.txt tells crawlers which URLs they may fetch. llms.txt does not allow or block anything; it is a summary and reading list for AI tools. Does Google use llms.txt? Google has not said it uses llms.txt for search or AI Overviews. Treat it as optional and keep your main pages readable on their own. Where do I put llms.txt? At the root of your domain, so it loads at yoursite.com/llms.txt as plain text. On most platforms that means uploading a file or adding a route that returns text. Can I add llms.txt to a Framer or Webflow site? Platforms differ in whether they let you serve a custom file at the root, and options change over time. Check your platform’s current settings or hosting options; if it cannot serve the file, a proxy or redirect from your own domain can. ## Your business grew up. Your website should too If customers need a demo just to understand what you sell, your website isn’t doing its job. - We sign an NDA on request. - You own the site, the code and every account once it’s paid. - Your first call is with Erfan, the founder. **Kazi Mohammed Erfan** Founder Don’t want to fill in the form? [Book a call directly](https://cal.com/pentaclay/discovery-call) ## Not sure? Ask AI about Pentaclay ### Pentaclay, in short Updated 17 Oct 2026 Pentaclay is a B2B website design agency for AI companies that sell to enterprises. We write, design and build marketing websites in Framer, Webflow and Next.js, and stay to help after launch. Pentaclay LLC is registered in New Mexico, USA; our team works from Dhaka, Bangladesh, with calls until 12:30pm US Eastern. Founded in 2023 by Kazi Mohammed Erfan, who brings 12 years of design experience.