llms.txt Manual
What the Claim #1 gate actually reads — and what we deliberately never will.
Summary
The admit gate is Admit(intent, llms) — amount is not in the signature. The single most consequential sentence you publish is the blockquote under your H1. Write it so a stranger can check it. Everything else in the file is secondary, evidence, or ignored. We check before checkout and re-check at render. If the file later fails, the card is withheld until the file passes again; the 30-day term continues.
1 · The nine checks we show
Four format rows, four AGICY pilot requirements, and one information row. They match the free checker on the claim console.
- H1 with the site or project name (REQUIRED)
The only required section in the spec. We read it as your identity — no other name is used on the card. - Blockquote summary after the H1 (OUR GATE)
Matched against the classified intent of the question. This single paragraph decides most admissions. - Free-form markdown before any H2 (READ)
Context on how to read the rest. Read, weighted lower than the blockquote. Headings are not allowed here. - H2 sections holding file lists (READ)
Markdown lists of [name](url) with an optional ': notes' after the link. Section names are your own taxonomy. - The H2 named exactly 'Optional' (SKIPPED)
Skipped when context is short — so we skip it too. Put changelogs and legal pages here, never your claims. - Root path /llms.txt (PILOT)
The current self-serve pilot fetches the advertiser domain's root file. Subpath files are not part of automated admission yet. - Fetchable: 200, no auth, no paywall (OUR CHECK)
Our requirement, not the spec's. UTF-8, served as text/plain or text/markdown. The automated preflight does not crawl H2 links; advertisers remain responsible for keeping them accurate. - Curated — we cap it at 10 KB (OUR CHECK)
The spec sets no size limit; we do. It is a briefing, not a sitemap, and dumping every URL dilutes the summary that decides your match. - /llms-full.txt and page .md variants (LATER)
The spec proposes .md page variants; llms-full.txt is a community companion. The current gate reads neither; admission uses root /llms.txt only.
2 · The summary decides
Aim for roughly 25–80 words, third person, at least one verifiable number (region, latency, capacity, residency). Name a category and a boundary. Do not use superlatives, second person, competitor names, or keyword stuffing — those patterns are how search ads taught marketers to lie at scale, and we refuse to buy them.
Problem-first writing survives only as a bounded description of what the business does, ending in what it does not do. A colon-delimited list of visitor problems is keyword stuffing with better manners. AGICY's own root file states the operating products, one checkable number ($5 floor), and points plant claims to /plant/llms.txt.
2b · Basis of claims
For forward-looking products, add a short numbered Basis of claims section: what a figure means and what is not held. Write declarations, not imperatives — a file cannot bind a third-party model. Cap at six items. Split files when claim bases differ (VERIFIED operating products vs TARGET/LOCK plant thesis). See §8: most specific applicable file wins.
3 · Worked example
# Copperway Gateway > EU-sovereign, OpenAI-compatible LLM gateway. Inference in the EU, Article 28 DPA, PII vault before egress. Endpoints are drop-in compatible. Prices and residency guarantees are per-region; see Compliance for the DPA. ## Docs - [Quickstart](/gateway/quickstart): auth, base URL, first call - [Model list](/gateway/models): per-region availability ## Compliance - [Data residency](/gateway/residency): where inference happens - [Article 28 DPA](/legal/dpa): processor terms, sub-processors ## Optional - [Changelog](/gateway/changelog) - [Pricing basis](/legal/gateway-pricing)
4 · What we never read
- Backlinks or referring domains
- Domain age or registrar
- Traffic, rankings, or DA/DR scores
- Social following or engagement
- Your amount, at the gate stage
- Ad spend history with us
- Company size or funding
- Anything a competitor publishes
5 · Failure modes we see
| Share | Failure | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Common | Marketing summary | Third person, one category, one boundary, one checkable number — no superlatives. |
| Common | Dead links in H2 lists | Check every listed URL yourself; the automated preflight does not crawl them. |
| Common | Summary ≠ live page | Claims in the blockquote should match the pages you link. |
| Common | Sitemap dump | Stay under 10 KB. The summary decides; dilution loses matches. |
| Common | Identity mismatch | H1 must be the display name used at checkout. |
| Common | Wrong serve | Root /llms.txt as text/plain or text/markdown, no auth. |
6 · Pre-claim checklist
- File is at https://your-domain/llms.txt and returns 200 without login.
- Served as text/plain or text/markdown, UTF-8, under 10 KB.
- H1 is the site or product name that will appear on the card.
- One blockquote summary: 25–80 words, third person, ≥1 verifiable number.
- Summary names a category and a boundary — ends in what you do not do; no visitor-problem keyword lists.
- Forward-looking claims get a Basis of claims section (≤6 declarations, not imperatives).
- Materially different claim bases get separate files (e.g. /llms.txt vs /plant/llms.txt).
- H2 file lists use real URLs that you have checked; Optional holds changelogs only.
- Nothing in the file tries to sell backlinks, DA/DR, spend, or amount.
Run the free check before you pay: Dashboard → Advertising or /advertise.
7 · Hard stops (not a threshold)
Health advice, legal advice, financial advice, elections, crisis, and gambling/betting (casinos, sportsbooks, loot-boxes, trading signals) are refused before amount is considered — whether the intent or your /llms.txt triggers the stop. See companion 2026-04b §5.