How to Add llms.txt to WordPress, Shopify, or Any Site

How do I add an llms.txt file to my site?

Adding the file takes two steps, and neither needs code. First, you write a short Markdown file that describes your site. Second, you place that file at your web root, so it loads at yoursite.com/llms.txt. The second step is where platforms differ. A site you fully control makes it a thirty-second upload. A locked-down platform makes it harder. This guide covers both, plus how to confirm it worked.

The file must live at your root, reachable at yoursite.com/llms.txt. A file buried in a subfolder will not be found by AI crawlers.

Step 1: Create the file

The file is plain Markdown. It needs a heading with your site name, a short summary, and a list of your important pages with one-line notes. You can write it in any text editor and save it as a file named llms.txt. If you would rather not format it by hand, my free llms.txt generator builds a valid file from a short form and lets you copy or download it.

For the full format and what to include, the what is llms.txt guide walks through every part, and these real llms.txt examples show live files to model yours on. Whichever way you make it, keep it honest and short. Ten to thirty links is plenty for most sites.

Step 2: Put it at your site root

Every method below shares one goal: get the file to load at yoursite.com/llms.txt with a 200 response. Where you place it depends on how much control your platform gives you over the root. There are three situations you will run into, and yours is one of them.

How to add llms.txt to WordPress

WordPress gives you full access to your server files, so you have two easy routes.

• Manual upload: open your host's file manager (cPanel, Plesk, or similar) or connect by FTP. Upload the file to the same folder that holds wp-config.php, which is your site root. That is it.
• Plugin: several SEO and AI plugins now generate and serve the file for you, and keep it updated as you add pages. If you already run an SEO plugin, check whether it has added this feature before installing another one.

Manual upload is the most reliable, because it puts a real file at the root with nothing to break. A plugin is worth it if you publish often and want the file to update itself.

How to add llms.txt to Shopify, Wix, or Squarespace

Hosted platforms control your site root, so you cannot simply upload a file to it. This is the hard case, and it is worth being honest about. Your options, best first:

• Check for native support or an app. Some platforms and marketplace apps have started adding this feature. When it exists, this is the cleanest route, so search your platform's app store first.
• Use a proxy. If your domain runs through a service like Cloudflare, you can serve the file from there so it appears at your root without touching the platform.
• Wait. Native support is being added across platforms over time. If nothing above fits, this is the one file worth skipping until your platform supports it.

The takeaway: on a locked-down platform, do not fight the system. Use an app if one exists, and do not risk breaking your storefront to force a file into a root you do not control.

How to add llms.txt to a static site or custom build

If you run a static site, a framework, or your own server, this is the easiest case of all. You already have a public folder, and the file goes straight in.

• Static sites (plain HTML, Hugo, Jekyll): drop the file into your public or root output folder and deploy.
• Next.js, Astro, and similar: put it in your public directory, and it ships to the root automatically.
• Laravel, Rails, and server frameworks: place it in the public web root, right next to robots.txt.

This site is a Laravel app, and its file lives beside robots.txt in the public folder. That is the whole setup, and it deploys with everything else.

How to check your llms.txt is working

After you upload it, confirm the file actually loads. Open yoursite.com/llms.txt in a browser. You should see your plain text, not a 404 page and not your site design wrapped around it.

• If you see a 404, the file is in the wrong folder or the name is misspelled.
• If you see your site header and footer, a platform is intercepting the request, which is the hosted-platform problem above.
• If you see clean text, it works.

One check people skip: read the file cold, as a stranger would. If someone could describe your business accurately from that text alone, it is doing its job. Then point robots.txt at it with a comment line, the way this site does, so crawlers that read robots.txt know the file exists. If you are unsure how llms.txt vs robots.txt differ, I cover that in a separate guide.

Keep the file current

A file you upload once and forget becomes a liability. When your prices, services, or best pages change, update it to match. A stale file feeds AI systems old facts in your own words, which is worse than none. Review it whenever you would review your homepage copy, and it stays an asset instead of a trap.