Where should llms.txt be published?

Publish it at your domain root so it is reachable at /llms.txt, for example https://example.com/llms.txt.

What status code should llms.txt return?

It should return HTTP 200 and contain the expected text content without access restrictions.

Can llms.txt live at /docs/llms.txt?

You can keep a documentation copy there, but maintain a root /llms.txt file as the canonical discovery path. The root file can link to deeper docs if needed.

Should apex and www both serve llms.txt?

Pick one canonical host. The other host should redirect cleanly to the canonical /llms.txt or serve identical content with no conflicting URLs.

Question

Where to put llms.txt

Updated July 24, 2026

Publish the file at your root path so assistants and crawlers can find it reliably. The expected URL is simple: https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt. If the file exists only inside docs, assets, or a framework route, many tools and crawlers will miss it.

Correct URL format

Your file should be available at https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt. Avoid deep paths like /docs/llms.txt unless you also maintain a root file.

Canonical deployment pattern by stack

Static hosting: commit llms.txt to the public root directory.
Nginx/Caddy: serve as a plain text/markdown file from site root.
Framework apps: place in public assets so build/deploy preserves root path.

Correct location by hosting platform

Platform	Put the file here	Verify this URL
Next.js	`public/llms.txt`	`https://example.com/llms.txt`
Astro, Vite, or SvelteKit static output	`public/llms.txt` or the static asset directory copied to the output root.	Root URL after the production build, not the dev server only.
WordPress	Document root beside `robots.txt`, or a plugin that serves the exact root path.	No login wall, no HTML theme wrapper, no redirect to an attachment page.
Caddy or Nginx on a VM	The configured site root, usually beside `index.html`.	`Content-Type` is text-like and status is `200`.
Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, or Vercel	The deployed output root or public directory.	No Worker, Function, or redirect rule rewrites `/llms.txt`.

Stack-specific examples

Next.js: put the file in /public/llms.txt, then deploy and check the root URL.
Vite/Astro: put it in the public directory, not inside source routes.
WordPress: upload to the web root or use a plugin only if it serves the exact root path.
Cloudflare Pages: include it in the output directory, then verify that no Worker route rewrites it.

Host consistency example

Pick one canonical host and keep llms.txt behavior identical there. A safe default is: www -> apex redirect, then serve /llms.txt from apex with 200.

# Check apex and www behavior together
curl -I https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt
curl -I https://www.yourdomain.com/llms.txt

Deployment checklist

File exists at root path.
Returns HTTP 200.
Listed in robots.txt as a reference page.
Contains only canonical URLs.

Common misdeploys to avoid

Publishing only at /docs/llms.txt without a root file.
Serving different content between apex and www.
Returning 403 from WAF challenge rules for crawler user agents.
Serving stale content from a CDN cache after the file was updated.
Listing URLs that redirect several times or resolve to non-canonical hosts.

Should robots.txt mention llms.txt?

It is not required, but adding a reference can help humans and automated tools discover your policy files together. Keep robots permissions and llms.txt guidance separate: robots controls access; llms.txt maps the pages you want understood.

User-agent: *
Allow: /

Sitemap: https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml
# Optional reference for humans and tooling:
# llms.txt: https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt

Fast verification commands

curl -I https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt
curl -s https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt | sed -n '1,80p'
curl -I https://www.yourdomain.com/llms.txt

Production checks that catch most mistakes

Run these checks against the public hostname after deployment, not against localhost. The most common failures are a root URL that redirects to HTML, a CDN rule serving an old file, or a framework route that works locally but is missing from the production build.

# Status, content type, final URL, and cache age
curl -L -sS -D - https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt -o /tmp/llms.txt \
  | sed -n '1,20p'

# Confirm the file is text, not an HTML fallback page
file /tmp/llms.txt
sed -n '1,40p' /tmp/llms.txt

# Compare apex and www
curl -L -sS https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt | shasum -a 256
curl -L -sS https://www.yourdomain.com/llms.txt | shasum -a 256

Bad result	Likely cause	Fix
`200` with full HTML	The app fallback route is catching `/llms.txt`.	Move the file to the public/static root or add an explicit file route before the fallback.
`301` to a deep docs page	The root discovery path is only a redirect.	Prefer serving the root file directly; link from it to deep docs if needed.
Apex and `www` differ	Two hosts deploy from different roots or caches.	Choose one canonical host and make the other redirect or serve identical content.
Old content after deploy	CDN cache retained the previous file.	Purge `/llms.txt` or version the referenced source pages inside the file.

If apex and www return different files, unify behavior before further SEO/GEO changes. Then confirm crawler hits with OAI-SearchBot log checks.

Next step: test llms.txt quality and set update cadence.

Validate your file