Why this exists
A growing share of your next clients will never see your website. They will see what ChatGPT, Perplexity, or an AI Overview says about it. Those systems work from whatever they can parse, and a site without a map gets described approximately, or worse, gets skipped for a competitor that was easier to summarise.
llms.txt is the emerging convention for fixing that: one markdown file at your site root that tells AI systems what the site is, what each page contains, and what to quote. I keep one on this site. This skill writes one for yours, and the hard part is not the format, it is the editorial discipline: one honest line per page, accurate enough that you would be happy to see an AI repeat it verbatim.
How it works
- It inventories your real pages From the project source files if you are in the site's repo, or from the live sitemap.xml if not. Titles, meta descriptions, and what each page actually contains.
- It excludes what should stay invisible Form handlers, admin pages, thank-you pages, anything robots.txt disallows. An llms.txt that exposes your send.php is worse than none.
- It writes the file to spec Site name, a blockquote summary an AI can safely quote, sectioned link lists with one honest line per page, and an Optional section for material an AI can skip when context is tight.
- It validates and diffs Every URL is checked against the sitemap (or live, with your go-ahead). If an llms.txt already exists, you get a diff and a change report, never a silent replacement.
Step by step (for first-time users)
- Open Claude Code in your website project Or anywhere, and give the live URL instead.
-
Type
/llms-txt-generatorIt finds the pages, asks nothing it can answer itself, and drafts the file. - Edit the summary blockquote This is the line AIs will repeat when describing your business. The skill drafts it from your site; you make it exactly right.
-
Upload to your site root
Same level as robots.txt:
yoursite.com/llms.txt. Regenerate whenever pages change.
What a good entry looks like
| Weak | Strong |
|---|---|
| Discover our flexible service options | Pricing and scope for the three service tiers |
| Our amazing portfolio | Case studies of 8 automation systems with before/after numbers |
| Get in touch! | Contact form and direct email, replies within one business day |
Honest take
What it does well: The editorial part. Most llms.txt files online are keyword-stuffed sitemaps wearing a new name, and AI systems treat them accordingly. This skill writes descriptions of what is actually on each page, flags the summary line for your personal edit, and refuses to inflate. The private-endpoint filter is the safety feature you do not think about until your form handler shows up in an AI answer.
What it does not do: It will not get you cited by itself. llms.txt is a map, not a ranking trick; if the pages it points to are thin, the map honestly says so. It also does not guarantee adoption: the convention is still emerging and different AI systems honour it to different degrees. The cost is one file and ten minutes, which is why it is worth doing anyway.
When to use it: Any site you want AI assistants to describe correctly: your studio site, a client's site as a deliverable add-on, a product's docs. Regenerate it when the site structure changes, the same way you would a sitemap.