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# How to add llms.txt to a custom website

A custom website means hand-built code with no platform rules in the way: you already have file access, and the file belongs wherever your stack puts static files, next to robots.txt. The constraint is not permission but conventions: where your build puts public assets is where llms.txt goes, and that place is different in every framework.

## Why a custom website is different

Unlike a hosted platform, nobody can give you one path. The decision tree is your stack. On a static setup (Astro, Eleventy, plain HTML) you drop the file in the published root. On Next.js it goes in `public/llms.txt` and ships on the next deploy with no route to wire up. On Vercel, Netlify, and GitHub Pages the public folder is served as-is. The alternative on any framework is a route handler that returns the text with a `text/plain` content type; that route is worth building only if your file needs to change with your content (pulling from the same CMS index as the rest of the site).

## The file you are publishing

The full format lives in our llms.txt guide. This is the file itself, from a sample outdoor gear store:

```
# Cedar and Pine Outfitters
> Cedar and Pine Outfitters sells outdoor apparel and camping gear from its Seattle storefront, shipping across the US. Runs an in-house tent repair service and publishes beginner backpacking guides.
## Shop
- [Tents](https://[yourdomain.com]/collections/tents): Two-person and family tents, described by season rating and packed weight.
- [Sleeping bags](https://[yourdomain.com]/collections/sleeping-bags): Down and synthetic bags, described by temperature rating.
- [Backpacks](https://[yourdomain.com]/collections/backpacks): Day packs and multi-day packs, listed with capacity in liters.
## Guides
- [Backpacking checklist](https://[yourdomain.com]/pages/backpacking-checklist): Complete gear list for a first overnight trip.
- [Tent care and repair](https://[yourdomain.com]/pages/tent-repair): How the in-house repair service works, turnaround and pricing.
## Policies
- [Shipping and returns](https://[yourdomain.com]/pages/shipping-returns): Free shipping over 75 dollars. 60-day returns on unused gear.
## Optional
- [Journal](https://[yourdomain.com]/blogs/journal): Trip reports and gear maintenance notes.
```

## Steps

1.  Check first. Open \[yourdomain.com\]/llms.txt in a browser, replacing yourdomain.com with your actual domain. If your site is brand new, expect a 404.

1.  Find where static files land. Look at where your robots.txt is served from in your project; llms.txt goes in the same place. On most frameworks that is a `public/` or `static/` directory, or the output folder of your static build.

1.  Add the file. Write your Markdown (what goes in it is covered in our llms.txt guide), name it exactly `llms.txt` in all lowercase, and commit it with the rest of the project so it survives deploys. If you take the route-handler path instead, return it with a `text/plain; charset=utf-8` content type.

1.  Deploy and verify. Open \[yourdomain.com\]/llms.txt and confirm a 200 status and plain text. Check the headers with `curl -I https://[yourdomain.com]/llms.txt` and confirm the 200 and the text/plain content type. If your host serves .txt files with the wrong content type or forces a download, that is a host configuration setting to fix, not a file problem.

### The fundamentals

-   •What goes in the file: your name, one-paragraph summary, and curated links with one-line descriptions, see our [llms.txt guide](https://aizii.ai/learn/ai-search/how-to-write-a-good-llms-txt-file)
-   •Crawler permissions live in robots.txt, never in llms.txt, see our [robots.txt guide](https://aizii.ai/learn/ai-search/how-to-write-robots-txt-for-ai-search)
-   •The structured data behind the pages you link, see our [product schema guide](https://aizii.ai/learn/ai-search/how-to-add-product-schema-markup-for-ai-search)

### A hypothetical example

Say you built your store on Next.js and deploy to Vercel. You drop llms.txt into `public/`, push, and the file is live at your domain on the next deploy. A month later you move your guides from /guides/ to /learn/. Your old Markdown file still links to the old paths. The scan flags the broken links. You update the file and push; it is live again with the same deploy. That is the custom-site maintenance contract: the file rides your normal deploy process, which is convenient right up until you forget it is part of it.

## What this guide does not cover

Generating the file dynamically from your CMS (a developer task, worth it once the catalog outgrows a hand-maintained list). Server-level logging and crawler monitoring. The transaction layer.

## Frequently Asked Questions

Where should llms.txt be placed in Next.js or Astro projects?

Place the file directly in the public/ folder. Static site frameworks automatically serve everything in public at the root domain.

Do I need to rebuild the project when I update llms.txt?

Yes. On static platforms like Vercel or Netlify, static assets are deployed during the build process, so pushing a commit triggers the update.

Can I generate llms.txt dynamically from my database during build time?

Yes. A simple build script can query your database for categories and export the formatted markdown file directly into public/llms.txt.

## Check your own brand now

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