llms.txt for GitHub Pages

Three approaches for GitHub Pages: a static file committed to docs/ or gh-pages, a Jekyll template that auto-generates content, or a GitHub Actions workflow for fully automated generation.

Last updated: April 22, 2026

Option 1: static file in docs/ or gh-pages

The simplest approach is to commit llms.txt as a plain file to your repository. GitHub Pages serves it as-is with the correct MIME type.

# GitHub Pages — static file approach
#
# Serving from docs/ branch (most common):
#   your-repo/
#   ├── docs/
#   │   ├── index.html
#   │   └── llms.txt   ← add this file here
#   └── README.md
#
# Serving from gh-pages branch:
#   Create or switch to the gh-pages branch, then add:
#   llms.txt   ← in the branch root
#
# In repository Settings → Pages:
#   Source: Deploy from a branch
#   Branch: main (or gh-pages), Folder: /docs (or /)
#
# GitHub Pages serves it at: https://username.github.io/repo/llms.txt
# With a custom domain: https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt

GitHub Pages automatically detects plain-text files and serves them with Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8. No configuration needed.

Option 2: Jekyll with layout: null

If your GitHub Pages site uses Jekyll (the default for many repos), a plain .txt file will pass through without modification — no front matter needed. However, if you want Jekyll to process the file as a template (e.g. to inject site variables), add a front matter block with layout: null to prevent Jekyll from wrapping it in an HTML layout.

---
layout: null
permalink: /llms.txt
---
# My Project

> One-sentence description of what my project does.

## Documentation

- [Getting Started](https://myproject.com/docs/start/): Install and configure.
- [API Reference](https://myproject.com/docs/api/): Full endpoint catalog.

## Optional

- [Changelog](https://myproject.com/changelog/): Release history.

You can also drive the link list from a YAML data file in _data/, keeping the content separate from the template:

# _data/llms_links.yml
docs:
  - title: "Getting Started"
    url: "https://myproject.com/docs/start/"
    desc: "Install and configure in minutes."
  - title: "API Reference"
    url: "https://myproject.com/docs/api/"
    desc: "Full endpoint catalog with examples."
optional:
  - title: "Changelog"
    url: "https://myproject.com/changelog/"
    desc: "Release history."

---
layout: null
permalink: /llms.txt
---
# {{ site.title }}

> {{ site.description }}

## Documentation
{% for link in site.data.llms_links.docs %}
- [{{ link.title }}]({{ link.url }}): {{ link.desc }}
{% endfor %}

## Optional
{% for link in site.data.llms_links.optional %}
- [{{ link.title }}]({{ link.url }}): {{ link.desc }}
{% endfor %}

Option 3: GitHub Actions for dynamic generation

For sites where the link list should be auto-generated from your content (Markdown files, frontmatter, a CMS), use a GitHub Actions workflow that runs a script and commits the result back to the repository.

# .github/workflows/generate-llms-txt.yml
# Generates llms.txt from your content and commits it to the repo.
name: Generate llms.txt

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
    paths:
      - 'docs/**'
      - 'content/**'
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  generate:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: write

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Set up Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'

      - name: Generate llms.txt
        run: node scripts/generate-llms-txt.js

      - name: Commit and push if changed
        run: |
          git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
          git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
          git add docs/llms.txt
          git diff --staged --quiet || git commit -m "chore: regenerate llms.txt"
          git push

// scripts/generate-llms-txt.js
// Run by GitHub Actions to generate docs/llms.txt from your content
const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');

const SITE_URL = 'https://myproject.com';

// Example: build link list from your markdown files in docs/
const docsDir = path.join(__dirname, '..', 'docs');
const mdFiles = fs.readdirSync(docsDir)
  .filter(f => f.endsWith('.md') && f !== 'index.md');

const links = mdFiles.map(file => {
  const content = fs.readFileSync(path.join(docsDir, file), 'utf-8');
  const titleMatch = content.match(/^#\s+(.+)/m);
  const descMatch = content.match(/^>\s+(.+)/m);
  const slug = file.replace('.md', '');
  const title = titleMatch ? titleMatch[1] : slug;
  const desc = descMatch ? descMatch[1] : '';
  return `- [${title}](${SITE_URL}/docs/${slug}/): ${desc}`;
}).join('\n');

const output = [
  '# My Project',
  '',
  '> My project description.',
  '',
  '## Documentation',
  '',
  links,
  '',
  '## Optional',
  '',
  `- [Changelog](${SITE_URL}/changelog/): Release history.`,
].join('\n');

fs.writeFileSync(path.join(docsDir, 'llms.txt'), output, 'utf-8');
console.log('Generated docs/llms.txt');

The workflow triggers on pushes to main that modify your content directories, and can also be run manually via workflow_dispatch. It only creates a commit if the generated file actually changed.

Custom domain and CNAME

If you use a custom domain (e.g. myproject.com), add a CNAME file to your docs directory containing your domain. GitHub Pages will serve your site — including llms.txt — at that domain.

myproject.com

Use absolute URLs in your llms.txt that match your custom domain, not the default username.github.io/repo URL.

Verify

curl -I https://myproject.com/llms.txt
# Expected:
# HTTP/2 200
# content-type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

curl https://myproject.com/llms.txt | head -5

Related guides

How to create llms.txt — templates and checklist.
llms.txt format reference — spec details.
Eleventy guide — another static site generator.
Hugo guide — static site with Go templates.
Validator · Generator.