Covering llms.txt
llms.txt covers the URL, at the root or its path
In short: Publish your llms.txt at https://your-domain/llms.txt on the production host (or at a section’s path, such as /docs/llms.txt), answering 200 to anyone.
What it checks
Whether an llms.txt file covers the URL you scanned, at the root (/llms.txt) or at its path (/docs/llms.txt).
Why it matters
The llms.txt proposal puts the file at a fixed, predictable URL, the root or the path of the pages it covers, so an agent or tool that goes looking for it knows where to ask. If no file covers the page, nothing else in the file matters.
When it applies
Always, for any llms.txt that exists. A site with no covering file isn’t scored on R1; it’s reported as Not Present.
An audit that doesn't apply, or that we couldn't verify, is removed from your score and its weight shared among the Retrievability & Access audits that do apply. It is never scored as a zero.
How it's scored
1.0 for the most specific file covering the scanned URL, root or path. With no covering file at the URL’s path or any ancestor path, the scan reports Not Present (the no-file cap of 0) instead of a score.
How to fix
- Publish the file at https://your-domain/llms.txt on the production host, not only on staging.
- If one section of your site has its own audience (docs, developers), you can publish /docs/llms.txt too; it covers everything under /docs/.
- Check it returns 200 from outside your network, with no login or IP allowlist in front of it.
Frequently asked questions
Does a /docs/llms.txt count if I don’t have one at the root of my site?
/docs/ is fully covered by /docs/llms.txt and earns full marks with no root file. A scan of your bare domain only looks for /llms.txt, though, so publish a root file too if you want the homepage covered.Sources: llms.txt (v2, Aug 2026) · Covering llms.txt
I have both /llms.txt and /docs/llms.txt. Which one do you score?
/docs/api/llms.txt, then /docs/llms.txt, then /llms.txt, at most five tries with the root always last) and the first that answers 200 with a real text file wins; the report names it as the covering file. A last path segment without a file extension is also tried as a directory, so a scan of https://example.com/docs (with or without the trailing slash) starts at /docs/llms.txt, while https://example.com/docs/page.html is a page and starts at its parent directory.Sources: llms.txt (v2, Aug 2026) · Covering llms.txt
Does my llms.txt on docs.example.com cover www.example.com, or the other way round?
/llms.txt. If your main file lives on a subdomain, publish a short root file on the main domain as well that links to it.Sources: llms.txt (v2, Aug 2026) · Covering llms.txt
Does llms-full.txt, or an HTML page at /llms.txt, count as a covering llms.txt?
llms.txt; llms-full.txt is captured separately for research and never stands in for it. A path that answers 200 with an HTML page (by body or by a text/html content type), or with a body under 20 bytes, isn’t treated as a file: resolution moves on to the next ancestor, and if nothing else covers the URL the scan reports that a web page answered instead.Sources: llms.txt (v2, Aug 2026) · Covering llms.txt
In your research, how many sites earn full marks for having a covering llms.txt?
Sources: LLMSRank method · Covering llms.txt