The anatomy of a great llms.txt file (with examples)

A great llms.txt file is short, specific and boring in the best way. It has your name as a title, one clear sentence about what you do, a few headed lists of your most important pages with a short note on each, and maybe an "Optional" section at the end. If you're looking for an llms.txt example to copy, you'll find three complete ones below, for a local practice, an online shop and a software company.

First, let's take the file apart piece by piece, so you know why each line is there.

The five parts of an llms.txt file

The format comes from the llms.txt proposal published by Jeremy Howard of Answer.AI in September 2024. It's written in Markdown, the simple formatting where # makes a heading and - makes a list. The parts go in this order:

1. A title (required)
2. A one-line summary (recommended)
3. Optional free text
4. Sections of links
5. An "Optional" section (optional, as the name says)

1. The title

The very first line is your business, site or project name, after a single # and a space:

# Harbor Dental

This is the only part the proposal requires. Use the name people know you by, not a slogan. Use one # title only; every other heading in the file uses ##.

Nothing should come before it. Some tools add a "generated by" note at the top, and our validator flags that, because the title should be the first thing a reader sees.

2. The summary line

Next comes a blockquote: a line starting with >. This is your one-sentence description.

> Family and cosmetic dentist in Portland, Maine, open six days a week and accepting new patients.

A good summary answers four questions: what you are, what you offer, where (if location matters) and for whom. Avoid slogans like "Your smile is our passion." An AI tool can't do much with that. It can do a lot with "family and cosmetic dentist in Portland, Maine."

3. Optional free text

After the summary, the proposal allows a few paragraphs or bullet points with extra context. Keep this short. Good uses are facts that help someone understand everything below it:

Founded in 2009. Two dentists and three hygienists. We see adults and children over 3.
Emergency appointments are available same day when booked before 11am.

If you don't have anything useful to add here, skip it.

4. Sections of links

This is the heart of the file. Each section starts with a ## heading, then lists pages in this pattern:

## Services
- [Family dentistry](https://harbordental.example/family): Checkups, cleanings and fillings for all ages

A few rules of thumb we see in the best files:

• Use plain section names people would expect: Services, Products, Pricing, About, Support, Docs, Policies. Two to five sections is plenty for most businesses.
• List 3 to 10 key pages in total. One or two links tell a reader very little; two hundred turn your summary into a sitemap. Your sitemap already covers every page; this file is the highlights.
• Use full addresses starting with https://. Short paths like /pricing work, but full addresses are safer for tools that read the file out of context.
• Link to pages that answer questions: services, prices, hours, booking, returns, contact. Skip login pages, tag archives and thank-you pages.

5. The note after each link

The text after the colon is optional in the format but it's where a lot of the value is. Compare:

- [Services](https://harbordental.example/services)
- [Services](https://harbordental.example/services): Cleanings, fillings, crowns, whitening and Invisalign

The second tells the reader what's on the page without visiting it. Good notes are factual, specific and under about 15 words. They describe the page, not how great you are.

6. The Optional section

The proposal gives one section name a special meaning: ## Optional. Links there are secondary, and an AI tool can skip them when it needs a shorter version. It's the right home for your blog, press page, careers page or older resources.

## Optional
- [Blog](https://harbordental.example/blog): Tips on oral health and practice news

llms.txt example 1: a local dental practice

Putting it all together for our made-up practice:

# Harbor Dental

> Family and cosmetic dentist in Portland, Maine, open six days a week and accepting new patients.

Two dentists and three hygienists. We see adults and children over 3.

## Services
- [Family dentistry](https://harbordental.example/family): Checkups, cleanings and fillings for all ages
- [Cosmetic dentistry](https://harbordental.example/cosmetic): Whitening, veneers and Invisalign
- [Emergency care](https://harbordental.example/emergency): Same-day appointments for pain or broken teeth

## Visiting us
- [Book an appointment](https://harbordental.example/book): Online booking, or call during office hours
- [Insurance and payment](https://harbordental.example/insurance): Plans we accept and payment options
- [Location and hours](https://harbordental.example/contact): Address, parking and opening hours

## Optional
- [Meet the team](https://harbordental.example/team): Our dentists and hygienists
- [Blog](https://harbordental.example/blog): Oral health tips

Notice what's missing: no mission statement, no list of every procedure, no marketing language. Everything is a fact someone might ask an assistant about.

llms.txt example 2: a small online shop

For a store, the most useful pages are usually categories and policies, not individual products.

# Maple & Thread

> Online shop selling handmade wool blankets and throws, made in Vermont and shipped across the US and Canada.

## Shop
- [Blankets](https://mapleandthread.example/blankets): Queen and king wool blankets, from $180
- [Throws](https://mapleandthread.example/throws): Smaller throws for sofas and gifts, from $95
- [Gift cards](https://mapleandthread.example/gift-cards): Digital gift cards from $25

## Help
- [Shipping](https://mapleandthread.example/shipping): Delivery times and costs by region
- [Returns](https://mapleandthread.example/returns): 30-day returns on unused items
- [Care guide](https://mapleandthread.example/care): How to wash and store wool

## Optional
- [Our story](https://mapleandthread.example/about): The family and the mill behind the shop

Prices in link notes are helpful, but only if you'll keep them current. If your prices change often, leave them out and let the page speak for itself.

llms.txt example 3: a software company with docs

Documentation sites are where llms.txt is used most, because AI coding tools read these files to find the right help pages. A software file usually splits product pages from docs.

# Tallybook

> Tallybook is invoicing and expense software for freelancers and small teams, with a REST API for integrations.

## Product
- [Features](https://tallybook.example/features): Invoices, recurring billing, expenses and reports
- [Pricing](https://tallybook.example/pricing): Free, Pro and Team plans compared

## Docs
- [Getting started](https://docs.tallybook.example/start): Create an account and send a first invoice
- [API reference](https://docs.tallybook.example/api): Endpoints, authentication and rate limits
- [Integrations](https://docs.tallybook.example/integrations): Connecting Stripe, QuickBooks and Zapier

## Support
- [Help center](https://tallybook.example/help): Billing questions and troubleshooting
- [Status](https://status.tallybook.example/): Current service status

## Optional
- [Changelog](https://tallybook.example/changelog): Release notes
- [Blog](https://tallybook.example/blog): Product news and guides

Links can point to other subdomains you own, like a separate docs or status site. That's fine and common.

What great files have in common

• They're short. All three examples fit on one screen. The proposal is meant to be a concise overview; if you want to publish all your content as text, that's a separate file people call llms-full.txt.
• They're factual. Every line could be checked against the website.
• They match the site. The name, location and services agree with the homepage and contact page.
• They work. The file loads as plain text at yoursite.com/llms.txt, and every link opens a real page.

That last point is where we see the most problems, which we'll cover in detail in our next guide. Keep expectations realistic too: the evidence on who reads llms.txt is thin outside of developer tools, so a great file is a tidy, low-cost step, not a ranking strategy.

Build yours

You can write the file by hand using the examples above, or let our free llms.txt generator scan your site and draft one in about two minutes. Then paste it into the validator before you publish: you'll get a score out of 100 and a plain list of anything to fix.

Bottom line: title, one clear sentence, a few headed lists of your most important pages with factual notes, and an Optional section for the rest. Keep it short, keep it true, and check that it loads.