mintlify__docs/ai/llmstxt.mdx

---
title: "llms.txt"
description: "Automatically generate llms.txt and llms-full.txt files so AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude can index and understand your documentation."
keywords: ["llms.txt", "LLM indexing", "AEO", "GEO", "content discovery"]
boost: 3
---

import { PreviewButton } from "/snippets/previewbutton.jsx"

The [llms.txt file](https://llmstxt.org) is an industry standard that helps LLMs index content more efficiently, similar to how a sitemap helps search engines. AI tools can use this file to understand your documentation structure and find content relevant to user queries.

Mintlify automatically hosts an `llms.txt` file at the root of your project that lists all available pages in your documentation. This file is always up to date and requires zero maintenance. You can optionally add a custom `llms.txt` file to the root of your project.

<Note>
  Authentication affects `llms.txt` and `llms-full.txt` differently depending on your site configuration:

  - **Fully authenticated sites**: Both files require authentication. AI tools that cannot authenticate cannot access them.
  - **Partially authenticated sites**: Both files are publicly accessible, but only list public pages and exclude pages restricted to user groups.

  For more information on how authentication affects AI features, see [Feature availability](/deploy/authentication-setup#feature-availability).
</Note>

View your `llms.txt` by appending `/llms.txt` to your documentation site's URL. Mintlify also hosts the file at `/.well-known/llms.txt` for compatibility with tools that follow the `.well-known` convention.

<PreviewButton href="https://mintlify.com/docs/llms.txt">Open the llms.txt for this site.</PreviewButton>

Mintlify adds HTTP headers to every page response so AI tools can discover your `llms.txt` files without prior knowledge of their location:

- `Link: </llms.txt>; rel="llms-txt", </llms-full.txt>; rel="llms-full-txt"`: Follows the standard HTTP `Link` header format for resource discovery.
- `X-Llms-Txt: /llms.txt`: A convenience header for tools that check for `llms.txt` support.

## Structure of the llms.txt file

An `llms.txt` file is a plain Markdown file that contains:

- **Site title** as an H1 heading.
- **Site description** as a blockquote summary below the title, sourced from the `description` field in your `docs.json` configuration.
- **Custom agent instructions** as an `Agent Instructions` block after the description, if you set [`markdown.instructions`](/ai/markdown-export#custom-agent-instructions) in your `docs.json`.
- **Structured content sections** with links and a description of each page in your documentation.
- **API specification links** to your OpenAPI and AsyncAPI specs, if your documentation includes them.

The `llms.txt` file lists your pages alphabetically in the order they appear in your repository, starting from the root directory. Page links in the `llms.txt` file include a `.md` extension so AI tools can fetch the Markdown version of each page directly.

Each page's description comes from the `description` field in its frontmatter. Descriptions truncate at 300 characters and the first line break. For API reference pages, the description also includes the specification information from the `openapi` or `api` frontmatter field. Pages without a `description` field appear in the `llms.txt` file without a description.

This structured approach allows LLMs to efficiently process your documentation at a high level and locate relevant content for user queries, improving the accuracy and speed of AI-assisted documentation searches.

<Note>
  Automatically generated `llms.txt` files cannot exceed 100,000 characters. If your documentation exceeds this limit, Mintlify truncates the file and appends a note listing the number of omitted pages. To list every page without truncation, add a [custom `llms.txt` file](#custom-files) at the root of your project.
</Note>

```mdx Example llms.txt
# Site title

> A brief description of the documentation site.

## Docs

- [API](https://example.com/docs/api.md): Endpoint list and usage
- [Install](https://example.com/docs/install.md): Setup steps
- [Getting started](https://example.com/docs/start.md): Intro guide

## OpenAPI Specs

- [openapi](https://example.com/docs/openapi.json)

## AsyncAPI Specs

- [asyncapi](https://example.com/docs/asyncapi.yaml)
```

## llms-full.txt

The `llms-full.txt` file combines your entire documentation site into a single file as context for AI tools and LLM indexing.

Mintlify automatically hosts an `llms-full.txt` file at the root of your project. View your `llms-full.txt` by appending `/llms-full.txt` to your documentation site's URL. Mintlify also hosts the file at `/.well-known/llms-full.txt` for compatibility with tools that follow the `.well-known` convention.

<PreviewButton href="https://mintlify.com/docs/llms-full.txt">Open the llms-full.txt for this site.</PreviewButton>

## Custom files

To add a custom `llms.txt` or `llms-full.txt` file, create an `llms.txt` or `llms-full.txt` file at the root of your project. Adding a custom file overrides the automatically generated file of the same name. If you delete a custom file, Mintlify restores the automatically generated file.

Your custom `llms.txt` or `llms-full.txt` file must have a site title as an H1 heading. Other content is optional. See [Format](https://llmstxt.org/#format) in the `llms.txt` specification for more information on optional sections and best practices.