# llms.txt Checker

Validate an llms.txt file against the llmstxt.org proposal v2 and see optional usability guidance.

Canonical: https://www.hota.digital/t/llms-txt-checker


## Notes
llms.txt is an evolving community proposal. The H1 is the only required section in v2; guidance scores are not official certifications.

## FAQs

### What is llms.txt?

llms.txt is a proposed Markdown index that helps AI agents and compatible software understand a site or documentation area, and find important resources. It does not grant crawler permission.

### How do I use the llms.txt Checker?

Choose Check website and enter a domain or exact llms.txt URL, or choose Paste content and submit your Markdown. Review the required structure check first, then recommendations and extracted links.

### How do I read the results?

Required structure assesses the essential H1 and Markdown response. Recommendations cover helpful but optional conventions such as a summary, curated H2 sections, link formatting and file size. The guidance score is not an official compliance certification.

### Is llms.txt an official W3C or IETF standard?

No. The llmstxt.org document is a community proposal. Its v2 revision was published in August 2026. Adoption and tooling are evolving.

### Does every llms.txt file need a summary and sections?

No. In v2 the H1 site or project name is the only required section. A blockquote summary, explanatory preamble and H2 link sections are optional but often useful.

### Where should I upload llms.txt?

Publish a UTF-8 Markdown text file at https://example.com/llms.txt. The v2 proposal also permits path-scoped files such as /docs/llms.txt. Ensure the URL returns the file, not an HTML page.

### What is the Optional section?

The H2 heading Optional conventionally groups less important links. It is not a required section, and the proposal does not require every agent to skip it.

### Is llms-full.txt required?

No. An llms-full.txt file is an ecosystem convention, not a requirement of llms.txt proposal v2. The proposal also discusses offering Markdown alternatives for individual content pages.

### How is llms.txt different from robots.txt?

robots.txt communicates crawl access rules to cooperative bots under RFC 9309. llms.txt provides human-readable and machine-readable context and curated resource links. It is not an access control or indexing directive.

### How is llms.txt different from sitemap.xml?

A sitemap is mainly for discovering URLs. llms.txt is an editorial guide that highlights important resources with contextual labels and descriptions. Both can be useful for different purposes.

### Will publishing llms.txt improve Google rankings or guarantee AI citations?

No. Publishing llms.txt does not guarantee that a particular model fetches it, trusts its content, cites your site or ranks it higher. Measure actual crawl traffic and outcomes separately.

### Does this checker verify that every linked page works?

No. It validates the downloaded or pasted llms.txt structure and extracts links. It does not fetch every linked URL, which avoids slow scans and unintended traffic.

### Why does the checker show a warning for a valid file?

Warnings flag opportunities to make the file more useful, not necessarily proposal violations. For example, a minimal file with only an H1 can satisfy the sole required heading requirement but still offer little context.

### Can an AI crawler access llms.txt if robots.txt blocks it?

A cooperative crawler still follows applicable robots.txt rules. llms.txt does not override robots.txt, authentication requirements or WAF restrictions.