---
title: Do I need an llms.txt? What it is, with an example · The Direct Index
url: https://directindex.org/guides/llms-txt-for-a-business
---

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Guide

# Do I need an llms.txt? What it is, with an example

llms.txt is a plain text file at `yourbusiness.com/llms.txt`, written in Markdown, that tells a language model what the site is and where the important pages are. It is a proposal from 2024 that a growing number of crawlers read. Not required, not scored here, and worth ten minutes.

## An example for a restaurant

```
# Your Business

> Portuguese restaurant in Lisbon, open Tuesday to Saturday 12:00 to 23:00 and Sunday lunch. Bookings and takeaway orders on this site, no marketplace needed.

## Pages
- [Menu with prices](https://yourbusiness.com/menu)
- [Book a table](https://yourbusiness.com/book)
- [Order for pick-up](https://yourbusiness.com/order)
- [Hours, address and phone](https://yourbusiness.com/contact)

## Notes
- Groups up to 12 by phone: +351 21 000 0000
- Kitchen closes at 22:30
```

## How to publish it

| Where your site is built | Where the setting lives, October 2026 |
| --- | --- |
| WordPress, your own server | Upload the file to the site root, next to robots.txt. |
| Wix, Squarespace, Webflow | No root file upload. Wix and Squarespace cannot serve it today; Webflow can through a redirect to a hosted file. Skip it and rely on structured data instead. |
| Shopify | No root upload; a redirect from /llms.txt to a file in Files works. |

Dashboards move things around. If a name here does not match, search the dashboard for the word in bold.

## What matters more

If you only do one thing, do the [structured data](https://directindex.org/guides/structured-data-restaurant): every assistant reads it, and it is scored. llms.txt is the optional extra on top.

## Check it

Curious whether the scanner finds yours? Run the [free scanner](https://directindex.org/scan) on your address: the report names each crawler that was refused, what it found for the menu, the structured data and the booking path, and what to fix first. Rescans are free.

## More guides

- [ChatGPT doesn't show my restaurant. Why, and what to do](https://directindex.org/guides/chatgpt-does-not-show-my-restaurant)
- [Am I blocking ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity without knowing?](https://directindex.org/guides/blocking-ai-crawlers-without-knowing)
- [robots.txt for AI agents: who to allow, and how](https://directindex.org/guides/robots-txt-for-ai-agents)
- [My menu is a PDF. Can AI assistants read it?](https://directindex.org/guides/menu-pdf-ai)
- [All guides](https://directindex.org/guides)

Updated 2026-10-14. Dashboard names are as of that date.

#### The Direct Index

[Why direct](https://directindex.org/why)[About and principles](https://directindex.org/about)[Methodology](https://directindex.org/methodology)[Privacy](https://directindex.org/privacy)

#### Use it

[Free scanner](https://directindex.org/scan)[City indexes](https://directindex.org/cities)[Guides](https://directindex.org/guides)[Common fixes](https://directindex.org/fix)[What agent-direct means](https://directindex.org/agent-direct)[Booking and ordering vendors](https://directindex.org/vendors)[Website builders](https://directindex.org/builders)[Who can fix this](https://directindex.org/providers)

#### For agents

[llms.txt](https://directindex.org/llms.txt)[llms-full.txt](https://directindex.org/llms-full.txt)[OpenAPI](https://directindex.org/openapi.json)[MCP server](https://directindex.org/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json)[A2A agent](https://directindex.org/.well-known/agent-card.json)

#### Data

[City data, JSON and Markdown](https://directindex.org/cities)[Sitemap](https://directindex.org/sitemap.xml)

Business listings from OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Scores under the same licence.

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