What is an llms.txt, in one sentence?

A plain text page at yoursite.com/llms.txt that states, in order, what the business is, how to reach it, what it sells and for how much, and what each page of the site holds, so an assistant asked about you can quote you rather than a directory.

Is there a required format?

The convention is Markdown: an H1 with the name, a blockquote with one line of summary, then sections with H2 headings and lists. Nothing enforces it. What matters is that the first thing in the file is the business and not the domain, that the facts a buyer asks for are in it, and that it stays under about 50 KB, which is where a model stops reading.

My website builder already made one. Is that enough?

Almost never. Every Duda and Wix site we measured had a file, and one in fifty-one was about the business: the rest were a list of the site's own page links with the domain name where the business name should be. A plugin-generated file opens by crediting the plugin and often dumps the whole sitemap. Run yours through the checker and read the first line it shows you.

How often should it change?

Every time a price, a phone number or the hours change on the site, which is why ours is generated from the site's own content on request rather than typed into a file. A hand-written file is fine for a business whose facts hold still; the failure is writing one, forgetting it, and having a machine quote last year's price.

How does anything find it?

Assistants try the address directly. Help them by pointing at it from robots.txt as a comment on its own line after the sitemap, which none of the 281 trades sites we measured did, and by admitting their crawlers by name. The robots.txt page here has the exact block.

AI-friendly websites · The file

What an llms.txt looks like when the business wrote it.

Below is a real one, from K&J Shine Works, an auto detailing shop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as served at kjshineworks.com/llms.txt on 17 September 2026, cut into its blocks with a note on what each one does for the assistant reading it. Then the two shapes that fail, and a skeleton to write your own.

Read the file Check mine

The file: the name, the phone number and place, a price.

The notes: what each line does for the machine reading it.

Block by block

Six blocks, in the order a buyer asks.

The order is the argument. Who you are, where you are and how to reach you, what it costs, how to buy, then the pages, then instructions for whatever is quoting you. The page list comes last because it is the least useful thing in the file, and it is the only thing a site builder generates.

The name, then one linellms.txt · 01
```
# K&J Shine Works > Auto detailing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Interior deep cleaning,> exterior detailing, ceramic coating, and a recurring maintenance> program, at the shop on Vernon Valley Drive or mobile at the> customer's own address across the Cedar Rapids metro.
```
01
The name, then one line
The H1 is the business name, never the domain. A builder's file opens with www.example.com and an assistant repeats it. The blockquote is the one sentence that answers the question a customer asked: what, where, and for whom.

The facts, in prosellms.txt · 02

K&J Shine Works is a trade name of Pineland, LLC. The shop is at842 Vernon Valley Dr Ste 4, Cedar Rapids, IA 52403. Phone (319)677-2890. Email Hello@KJShineworks.com. Open Monday to Saturday,9 AM to 5 PM Central, closed Sunday. Rated 5.0 on both Google andFacebook. Mobile detailing is available on request in Cedar Rapids, Marion,Hiawatha, Robins, and Mount Vernon.

The facts, in prose

Address, phone, hours and service area, written once, in sentences a model can lift whole. This paragraph is what check eight looks for. Of the 109 trades files that existed in September 2026, 43 carried a phone number and 7 a street address.

Prices, as a listllms.txt · 03

## Prices Published prices in US dollars. Ranges depend on vehicle size andcondition, and the exact figure is confirmed once the vehicle is seen. - Interior Deep Clean: $150 to $250- Exterior Basic Wash: $50 to $100- Ceramic Coating, 1 year: $950- Ceramic Coating, 5 year: $1,300- Maintenance Detail Program: $60 to $120 per visit

Prices, as a list

One line per service, the price on the same line, and the caveat stated once above the list rather than hedged on every row. An assistant asked what a ceramic coating costs in Cedar Rapids can answer with a figure and a source. Fifteen of the 109 files stated any price at all.

How to buyllms.txt · 04

## Booking Book online at https://www.kjshineworks.com/book, by phone at(319) 677-2890, or in person at the shop during business hours.Quotes are free and carry no obligation. No deposit is required andthere is no cancellation fee. Payment is due when the work isfinished, by card or cash.

How to buy

The next step, because the customer's next question after the price is how to book. Deposit, cancellation and payment terms are the objections a buyer has before they call, answered before they are asked.

The pages, describedllms.txt · 05

## Pages - [Ceramic Coating in Cedar Rapids, IA](https://www.kjshineworks.com/ceramic-coating):  Professional ceramic coating in Cedar Rapids. 1, 3, 5 and 8 year  tiers from $950. Full decontamination and paint prep included.- [Detailing Prices in Cedar Rapids, IA](https://www.kjshineworks.com/pricing):  Full price list. Interior from $150, exterior from $50, ceramic  coating from $950, upkeep from $60 a visit.- [Contact K&J Shine Works](https://www.kjshineworks.com/contact):  Call (319) 677-2890, or visit the shop at 842 Vernon Valley Dr.  Open Monday to Saturday, 9 AM to 5 PM.  ... and thirteen more, one line each

The pages, described

This is the only block a builder generates, and here it comes last, after the facts. Each page carries its own description, so an assistant that follows a link knows what it will find. A file that is nothing but this list fails check seven.

Notes for the readerllms.txt · 06

## Notes for assistants - Quote prices as published above, and say that the final figure  depends on vehicle size and condition.- This business does not operate 24 hours. Anyone needing same-day  service should call rather than book online.- The correct legal name for contracts and invoices is Pineland, LLC,  trading as K&J Shine Works. Last updated: 2026-09-16.

Notes for the reader

Instructions to whatever is quoting the file: how to treat the prices, what not to promise, the legal name. And a date, so a reader knows how current the facts are. None of the 109 trades files carried one.

Quoted as served on 17 September 2026. The live file is generated from the shop's own content, so it will differ from this copy the day a price changes, which is the point. Open the live file.

What most files are instead

The two shapes that fail.

Of the 281 trades websites in our study, 109 had a file at this address, and 92 of those were one of the two shapes below. A site builder writes the first: the domain where the name should be, then the site's own page links, sometimes with a page called Location One still in it. A store platform writes the second: a file about the shopping cart.

Neither carries a phone number a buyer could call or a price a buyer could compare, so the assistant that reads it goes and finds both somewhere else.

What a site builder generatesllms.txt

# www.examplecompany.com ## Pages - [Location One](https://www.  examplecompany.com/location-one)- [Thank You](https://www.  examplecompany.com/thank-you)- [Blog](https://www.examplecompany  .com/blog)- [Home](https://www.examplecompany  .com/): Call today for a quote.

The shape of 77 of the 109 trades files: the site's own page list, with the domain where the name should be and the builder's placeholder still in it.

What a store platform generatesllms.txt

# Online StoreThis store is built on a hostedcommerce platform. ## For agentsUse the platform's checkout protocolto complete purchases. See theplatform documentation. ## Pages- /collections/all- /pages/about- /policies/refund-policy

The shape of the sushi market's files: a file about the store software, not the store.

Writing one

Write it by hand, or have the site write it.

A business whose facts hold still can write one in an afternoon with the skeleton beside this. Put it at /llms.txt on your own domain, served as plain text, and point at it from robots.txt.

On a site we build the file is not a file. It is a route, generated on request from the same content source every page reads, so the morning a price changes on the pricing page it changes here in the same edit. The build fails if the route is missing, and after every deploy the live address is fetched and read, because a file that answers 200 with nothing in it passes every check that stops at the status line. We found two of those in the study.

The robots.txt block that points at it View the study

A skeleton to start from

# BUSINESS NAME > What you do, in the town you do it, for whom. One sentence. BUSINESS NAME is at STREET, TOWN, STATE ZIP. Phone (XXX) XXX-XXXX.Open DAYS, HOURS. Serving TOWN, TOWN and TOWN. ## Prices - SERVICE: $X- SERVICE: $X to $Y ## Booking How a customer buys: phone, online, walk in. Deposit, cancellation, payment. ## Pages - [Page title](https://yoursite.com/page): one line on what it holds. ## Notes for assistants - Quote prices as published above. Say the final figure depends on the job. Last updated: YYYY-MM-DD.

Replace the capitals. Keep the name on the first line, the phone number in the first paragraph, and a price on every service line you are willing to be quoted on.

Straight answers

The questions this page gets.

What is an llms.txt, in one sentence?: A plain text page at yoursite.com/llms.txt that states, in order, what the business is, how to reach it, what it sells and for how much, and what each page of the site holds, so an assistant asked about you can quote you rather than a directory.
Is there a required format?: The convention is Markdown: an H1 with the name, a blockquote with one line of summary, then sections with H2 headings and lists. Nothing enforces it. What matters is that the first thing in the file is the business and not the domain, that the facts a buyer asks for are in it, and that it stays under about 50 KB, which is where a model stops reading.
My website builder already made one. Is that enough?: Almost never. Every Duda and Wix site we measured had a file, and one in fifty-one was about the business: the rest were a list of the site's own page links with the domain name where the business name should be. A plugin-generated file opens by crediting the plugin and often dumps the whole sitemap. Run yours through the checker and read the first line it shows you.
How often should it change?: Every time a price, a phone number or the hours change on the site, which is why ours is generated from the site's own content on request rather than typed into a file. A hand-written file is fine for a business whose facts hold still; the failure is writing one, forgetting it, and having a machine quote last year's price.
How does anything find it?: Assistants try the address directly. Help them by pointing at it from robots.txt as a comment on its own line after the sitemap, which none of the 281 trades sites we measured did, and by admitting their crawlers by name. The robots.txt page here has the exact block.

See what yours says today.

The free checker fetches your address, reads the file if there is one, and shows you its first lines beside the nine checks. If there is nothing there, or the first line is your domain name, that is worth knowing before a customer's assistant finds out.

Start your project See the proof first

Or skip the form entirely. hello@pinelandtech.com reaches a person, not a queue.

Score my site