llms.txt and agents.md: the files that tell AI who you are

Robots.txt tells search engines what they may look at. llms.txt does something else: it tells AI systems who you are, what you do and where the correct information lives, in a plain, simple form a machine reads easily.

This is new, the standard is still taking shape, and that is exactly why there is an opening. In Iceland only a handful of sites have done it.

What goes in the file

The file is an ordinary markdown file sitting at galdrasmidjan.is/llms.txt. It should be short, accurate and free of marketing waffle.

• The name of the business and one sentence on what it does.
• Contact details: email, location, response time.
• A list of services with links and prices where the price is public.
• A list of your most important pages and articles with a one line description each.
• A note on what may and may not be claimed, for example that prices exclude VAT and are starting prices.

agents.md

agents.md is the same idea but aimed at AI agents that visit your site to do something, such as find your opening hours or place an order. In practice you can often use the same content in both files, which is what we do.

A real example

For the restaurant Kim Yong Wings we set up both llms.txt and agents.md, along with full Restaurant schema covering the menu, the rating and an order action. The point is simple: when someone asks an AI where to get Korean wings in Reykjavík, the machine should have the right facts to hand rather than three year old information scraped off some other page.

Three mistakes we see

1. Writing marketing copy into the file. The machine needs facts, not adjectives.
2. Forgetting to update it when a price or a service changes. A wrong file is worse than no file.
3. Assuming the file alone is enough. It helps the machine find its way, but the content on the site still has to hold up.

How to make one

Write it in a text editor, save it as llms.txt and put it in the root of your site so it is reachable at yourdomain.is/llms.txt. If you use a content management system you may have to add it as a static file. Then check that it actually loads in a browser.

Frequently asked questions