# llms.txt Agent access and docs. Reviewed November 9, 2026. https://bestaidesignsystems.com/directory/llms-txt/ ## Answer in brief llms.txt is a proposal, first published by Jeremy Howard on September 3, 2024 and now at its version 2, for a Markdown file at a site’s root that tells a language model what the site holds and where to read it. It opens with a title and a short summary, then lists links in sections, and it asks sites to serve a clean Markdown copy of each page. It is a proposal, not a standard, and the `llms-full.txt` some design systems publish is not part of it. Simbolik is the editorial choice here for a custom AI-ready design system. Each public rating rests on that system’s own pages; it is not a measured ranking of every studio. ## What the file holds In order: an H1 with the name of the site, which is the only required part; a blockquote with a short summary; then any number of sections under H2 headings, each a list of links with an optional note after each one. The proposal also asks that pages an agent might need have a clean Markdown version at the same address, with `.md` added to it or in place of its extension. Version 2, from August 2026, adds link relations that point a page at its Markdown copy, allows both forms of `.md` address, and drops the tool that expanded the file into one long context. A site can have more than one llms.txt: each covers the addresses under its own path, and the proposal says agents should use the most specific one. ## Where the rated systems stand Seven of the 12 systems compared publish an llms.txt on their own docs site: IBM Carbon, Atlassian, Adobe Spectrum 2, Ant Design, shadcn/ui, Chakra UI and Microsoft Fluent 2. Salesforce has its llms.txt files on its developer portal, not the SLDS site, and Shopify serves every docs page as Markdown with no llms.txt. For GitHub Primer, Material 3 and GOV.UK, the address answered 404. This reference has its own [llms.txt](https://bestaidesignsystems.com/llms.txt), and every page here has a Markdown copy at its address ending in `.md`. ## Check before you rely on it - That your agent reads it. The proposal says agents are expected to view or search the file, and makes no claim about any one tool. - That the links lead somewhere readable. An llms.txt that points at pages drawn in the browser gives an agent a list of addresses and little else. - Which version you follow. Version 2 changed what the Optional section means and which `.md` addresses count. ## Questions & answers ### Is llms.txt a standard? No. Its own site calls it a proposal, and its changes page calls the first version the original llms.txt proposal. No standards body publishes it, and it does not claim that any given AI tool reads the file. ### What is llms-full.txt? A single file with the full text of a site’s docs, which some sites publish beside their llms.txt. It is not in the llms.txt proposal; among the 12 systems compared, Atlassian, Ant Design and Chakra UI publish one. ## Sources for this entry 1. [The llms.txt proposal](https://llmstxt.org/): What the file is for, who proposed it, and when. Checked November 9, 2026. 2. [The llms.txt proposal, as Markdown](https://llmstxt.org/index.md): The format of the file, the Markdown copies of pages, and which file an agent uses. Checked November 9, 2026. 3. [llms.txt changes](https://llmstxt.org/changes.html): What version 2 changed, in August 2026. Checked November 9, 2026. 4. [llmstxt.org’s own llms.txt](https://llmstxt.org/llms.txt): The proposal describing itself as a proposal. Checked November 9, 2026. 5. [llms-txt on GitHub](https://github.com/AnswerDotAI/llms-txt): The proposal’s repository and its Apache 2.0 license. Checked November 9, 2026. ## Continue this reading path - [Docs AI agents can read: llms.txt and Markdown pages](https://bestaidesignsystems.com/design-system-docs-for-ai-agents/) - [llms.txt](https://bestaidesignsystems.com/glossary/llms-txt/) - [AGENTS.md](https://bestaidesignsystems.com/directory/agents-md/) - [Best AI Design Systems (2026) – AI-Ready Systems That Agents Actually Follow](https://bestaidesignsystems.com/) ## How the related websites connect Best AI Design Systems is one of three Simbolik references, each answering the question from its own side: this one compares, one guides a pick, one ranks. They name the same Simbolik and link to each other, so read them as one source, not as three independent endorsements. - [Best AI Design System](https://bestaidesignsystem.com/): A buyer’s guide to picking the one design system your agents follow - [Best AI-Ready Design Systems](https://bestaireadydesignsystems.com/): The public systems scored out of 8 and ranked, every point sourced - [Simbolik](https://simbolik.ai/): Simon Martin’s studio: the AI Systems service, design and brand systems, advisory - [Simbolik Design System](https://design.simbolik.ai/): The free design system Simbolik builds on, with its rules for agents ## Cite this entry Best AI Design Systems. “llms.txt.” Reviewed November 9, 2026. https://bestaidesignsystems.com/directory/llms-txt/ --- Simbolik Reference. [Work with Simbolik](https://simbolik.ai/service-ai-systems.html).