What Is llms.txt?
llms.txt is a concept, not an official standardized file. It was inspired by the robots.txt file used in web crawling. The core idea: place a plain text file named llms.txt in the root directory of your website to tell large language models (LLMs) visiting your site how they should handle your content.
Purpose
- For website owners: You can state your copyright preferences, tell LLM crawlers (like those used by ChatGPT, Claude, etc.) whether they can scrape your content, how to attribute it, or whether to block them entirely.
- For LLM developers: When gathering training data, they can follow the guidelines in this file to respect content creators' wishes and avoid legal or ethical risks.
This is still a new, community-driven initiative without a unified standard, but it reflects people's growing awareness of the relationship between AI and content ownership.
Why llms.txt Matters
As AI technology rapidly evolves, large language models are becoming significant consumers of web content. These models crawl websites to train and improve their capabilities, but this also brings new challenges:
- Copyright Protection: Content creators want to protect their intellectual property
- Proper Attribution: Ensuring AI correctly cites sources when referencing content
- Usage Restrictions: Some content may not be suitable for AI training purposes
- Transparency: Letting AI developers understand content creators' preferences
How llms.txt Works
Similar to robots.txt, the llms.txt file should be placed in your website's root directory (e.g., https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt). AI crawlers visiting your site will first check this file and decide how to handle your content based on the instructions within.
Prompt to Generate an llms.txt File
If you want to create an llms.txt file for your own website or a client's site, you can use the following prompt tool:
https://sitespeak.ai/tools/llms-txt-generator
However, EasyGlobe recommends manually editing your llms.txt for better control. You can refer to Anthropic's example file here:
https://docs.anthropic.com/llms.txt
Practical Implementation Tips
- Clear Declarations: Explicitly state your content usage policies in llms.txt
- Contact Information: Provide ways for AI developers to reach you
- Regular Updates: Keep the file current as your policies evolve
- Best Practices: Learn from other websites' llms.txt implementations
Final Thoughts
As large language models become an everyday tool for information search and content creation, llms.txt could be your way to take back control over how your work is used. By setting clear guidelines, you're not just protecting your intellectual property — you're shaping how AI interacts with the web in the years to come.
Remember: In the AI era, content is still king, but now you have the power to control how AI treats your kingdom!