Comparison
llms.txt vs llms-full.txt: what is the difference?
llms.txt is a concise, curated map that points assistants to your strongest pages. llms-full.txt is the full concatenated text of those pages in one file so an assistant can read the content directly without crawling each URL. Publish llms.txt for everyone; add llms-full.txt when you want the actual content available in one fetch.
The core difference
- llms.txt: a short Markdown index of links with one-line descriptions. Small, easy to maintain.
- llms-full.txt: the expanded body content of those pages inlined into one large file.
When to use each
- Publish llms.txt if you do nothing else — it is the curated source map.
- Add llms-full.txt for docs/knowledge bases where one-fetch access to full text is valuable.
- Keep both in sync — llms-full.txt should expand exactly the pages llms.txt lists.
Practical notes
- Neither replaces
sitemap.xml(discovery) orrobots.txt(permissions). - Large llms-full.txt files cost more to generate and keep current — only include canonical pages.
- No AI provider guarantees consumption of either; treat them as helpful, low-cost source maps.
Related pages: llms.txt vs sitemap.xml, the llms.txt guide, does ChatGPT use llms.txt.