- [ Home ](/) / - [ How to create ](/how-to-create/) / - Eleventy guide # llms.txt for Eleventy (11ty) Eleventy's template system makes llms.txt straightforward: use a plain text file with a permalink frontmatter key, or loop over collections to auto-generate links from your content. Last updated: April 22, 2026 ## Option 1: plain text template Create a file at `src/llms.txt` (or anywhere in your input directory). Add a `permalink` key in YAML frontmatter to control the output path. Eleventy will process the file and write it to `_site/llms.txt`. src/llms.txt Copy ``` --- permalink: /llms.txt eleventyExcludeFromCollections: true --- # Your Site > One-sentence description of what your site or product does. ## Documentation - [Getting Started](https://yoursite.com/docs/start): Install and configure in minutes. - [API Reference](https://yoursite.com/docs/api): Full endpoint catalog with examples. ## Product - [Overview](https://yoursite.com/product): Core features and capabilities. - [Pricing](https://yoursite.com/pricing): Plans and billing details. ## Optional - [Changelog](https://yoursite.com/changelog): Release history. - [GitHub](https://github.com/your-org/your-repo): Source code. ``` ✓ Add txt to templateFormats By default Eleventy does not process .txt files as templates. Add 'txt' to the templateFormats array in your eleventy.config.js . See the config snippet below. eleventy.config.js, enable txt templates Copy ``` // eleventy.config.js module.exports = function (eleventyConfig) { // Add passthrough copy for any assets you want served verbatim // llms.txt is handled via permalink in the template, no passthrough needed // Optional: add a collection for docs eleventyConfig.addCollection('docs', function (collectionApi) { return collectionApi.getFilteredByGlob('src/docs/**/*.md'); }); // Ensure .txt files are processed as templates return { templateFormats: ['md', 'njk', 'html', 'txt'], dir: { input: 'src', output: '_site', }, }; }; ``` ## Option 2: generate from collections If your documentation is managed as Eleventy collections (Markdown files with frontmatter), you can loop over the collection inside the template and generate the link list automatically. Use the `---js` frontmatter syntax for JavaScript-based configuration, or Nunjucks/Liquid template syntax for the body. src/llms.txt, from collections Copy ``` ---js { permalink: "/llms.txt", eleventyExcludeFromCollections: true } --- # Your Site > {{ site.description }} ## Documentation {% for doc in collections.docs | sort(attribute='data.order') -%} - [{{ doc.data.title }}]({{ site.url }}{{ doc.url }}): {{ doc.data.description }} {% endfor %} ``` The `site.url` global data variable should be set in your `_data/site.js` or `_data/site.json` file. Ensure all links use absolute URLs, relative paths will not resolve correctly when fetched by AI crawlers. ## Permalink config Key frontmatter options for your `llms.txt` template: - `permalink: /llms.txt`, output the file at the root of your site. - `eleventyExcludeFromCollections: true`, prevents the file from appearing in your site collections (nav, feeds, sitemaps). - `layout: false`, ensures no layout wrapper is applied (not needed since `.txt` files don't use HTML layouts by default). ## Verify Run your Eleventy build and check the output: Build and verify Copy ``` # Build npx @11ty/eleventy # Check that the file was generated cat _site/llms.txt | head -5 # After deploying, verify the live URL curl -I https://yoursite.com/llms.txt # Expected: content-type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 ``` ## Related guides - [How to create llms.txt](/how-to-create/), templates and checklist. - [llms.txt format reference](/llms-txt-format/), spec details. - [Hugo guide](/llms-txt-hugo/), similar static site generator approach. - [Gatsby guide](/llms-txt-gatsby/), React-based static generation. - [Validator](/validator/) · [Generator](/generator/). ## Sources - [ llmstxt.org, official spec ](https://llmstxt.org/) - [ Eleventy docs, permalinks ](https://www.11ty.dev/docs/permalinks/) - [ Eleventy docs, collections ](https://www.11ty.dev/docs/collections/) On this page - [ Option 1: plain text template ](#static) - [ Option 2: generate from collections ](#dynamic) - [ Permalink config ](#permalink) - [ Verify ](#verify)