How to find a website's llms.txt file

The quickest way

The quickest reliable method is to inspect the page HTML and HTTP Link header for rel="describedby". If no relation is declared, try the most specific path that contains the page, then fall back to the origin root:

https://example.com/llms.txt

If the site publishes one, it loads as plain text in your browser. If you get a 404, the site has not published one at the root (see the fallbacks below).

Step by step

1. Inspect discovery relations. View the page source and response headers for rel="describedby". Also note any rel="alternate" type="text/markdown", which identifies a Markdown representation of the page rather than its map.
2. Try the most specific path. For https://example.com/docs/api/auth, check https://example.com/docs/api/llms.txt and then https://example.com/docs/llms.txt.
3. Fall back to the origin root. Check https://example.com/llms.txt when no declared or path-level file is available. A 404 means only that this root file is absent.
4. View source if needed. The file is Markdown served as text. If your browser tries to render it oddly, use View Source or fetch it with curl -s https://example.com/llms.txt.

If there is no llms.txt

A 404 simply means the site has not adopted the convention. Your options:

• Confirm the discovery relation, path-level candidates and root URL in that order.
• Check the documentation subdomain or subpath if it is a docs-heavy site.
• If it is your own site, you can create one in minutes: paste your URL into our generator to build a draft from your sitemap, or follow how to create an llms.txt file.

Browse public directories

To discover sites that already publish llms.txt, community directories keep running lists: directory.llmstxt.cloud and llmstxt.site. For annotated, hand-checked examples with notes on what makes each one good, see our real-world examples.

Validate what you find

Found a file and want to know if it is well-formed? Paste it into our validator to check it against the spec: required H1, optional summary, section structure, and link syntax. It flags errors and warnings line by line.

FAQ

Where is the llms.txt file located? Usually at the origin root, but v2 also allows a file under any path, such as https://yourdomain.com/docs/llms.txt.

What is llms-full.txt? A companion file with the full content of the listed pages, concatenated into one Markdown file for ingestion. See what is llms-full.txt.

Does every site have one? No. Adoption is growing but still optional; a 404 just means the site has not published one.

Next steps

• Validator: check any llms.txt against the spec.
• Generator: build one from your sitemap.
• Real-world examples: annotated files worth copying.
• What is llms.txt? The foundations.