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llms.txt with Vercel

Three approaches: static file in public/ (zero config), Next.js App Router Route Handler, or a Vercel Edge Function for maximum flexibility.

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Approach 1 — Static file in public/

The simplest and most reliable option. Vercel serves every file in your framework’s static assets directory directly from their global Edge Network. No code changes, no configuration, no runtime cost.

static file — framework directory map 
# Place llms.txt in your project's static assets directory.
#
# Framework    → file location
# Next.js      → public/llms.txt
# Astro        → public/llms.txt
# SvelteKit    → static/llms.txt
# Nuxt         → public/llms.txt
# Remix        → public/llms.txt
# Hugo         → static/llms.txt

# Vercel serves it at /llms.txt from their global Edge Network.
# No config changes needed. After deploy, verify:
curl -I https://your-domain.com/llms.txt
# Expected: HTTP/2 200 | Content-Type: text/plain | x-vercel-cache: HIT

When to use this: your llms.txt content is relatively stable and you update it manually or via a build script. This is the right default for the vast majority of sites.

Approach 2 — Next.js App Router Route Handler

If you’re using Next.js on Vercel, the cleanest dynamic approach is an App Router Route Handler at app/llms.txt/route.ts. With export const dynamic = 'force-static', Vercel pre-renders it at build time and caches the output at the edge — effectively identical to serving a static file, but generated from your data.

app/llms.txt/route.ts 
// app/llms.txt/route.ts  (Next.js App Router)
// Vercel detects this as a static export when dynamic = 'force-static'
// and caches the output at the edge on first request.

export const dynamic = 'force-static';

export async function GET() {
  const content = [
    '# My Site',
    '',
    '> One-sentence description of what this site is about.',
    '',
    '## Documentation',
    '',
    '- [Getting started](https://yoursite.com/docs/getting-started/): first steps.',
    '- [API reference](https://yoursite.com/docs/api/): full endpoint catalog.',
    '',
    '## Optional',
    '',
    '- [Changelog](https://yoursite.com/changelog/): version history.',
  ].join('\n');

  return new Response(content, {
    headers: {
      'Content-Type': 'text/plain; charset=utf-8',
      'Cache-Control': 'public, max-age=3600, stale-while-revalidate=86400',
    },
  });
}

Remove force-static if you need truly dynamic content fetched on every request (e.g. from a live CMS). In that case, Vercel will still cache the response at the edge based on your Cache-Control header.

For a full Next.js guide including Pages Router and llms-full.txt generation, see the dedicated Next.js page.

Approach 3 — Vercel Edge Function

For non-Next.js projects that need dynamic generation, use a Vercel Edge Function combined with a vercel.json rewrite to map /llms.txt to the function:

api/llms.ts — Edge Function 
// api/llms.txt.ts  — Vercel Edge Function
// Place this file in the /api directory.
// Vercel routes requests to /api/llms.txt by default,
// so use a vercel.json rewrite to map /llms.txt → /api/llms.txt

import type { VercelRequest, VercelResponse } from '@vercel/node';

export const config = {
  runtime: 'edge', // Runs on Vercel's Edge Network
};

export default function handler(req: Request): Response {
  const content = [
    '# My Site',
    '',
    '> One-sentence description.',
    '',
    '## Core pages',
    '',
    '- [Getting started](https://yoursite.com/docs/getting-started/): first steps.',
  ].join('\n');

  return new Response(content, {
    headers: {
      'Content-Type': 'text/plain; charset=utf-8',
      'Cache-Control': 'public, max-age=3600, s-maxage=86400',
    },
  });
}
vercel.json — rewrite rule 
// vercel.json — rewrite /llms.txt to your Edge Function or API Route
// Only needed if you're not using Next.js App Router (which handles routing natively)

{
  "rewrites": [
    { "source": "/llms.txt", "destination": "/api/llms" }
  ]
}

Edge Functions run on Vercel’s global Edge Network with near-zero cold start time. They’re ideal for generating llms.txt from a KV store or external API without a full server.

Cache-Control and Edge Network behaviour

For static files in public/, Vercel sets cache headers automatically. For Route Handlers and Edge Functions, set Cache-Control explicitly:

  • public, max-age=3600, stale-while-revalidate=86400 — recommended for manually-curated files.
  • public, s-maxage=86400, stale-while-revalidate=604800 — aggressive edge caching, good for stable content.
  • public, max-age=0, s-maxage=300 — 5-minute edge cache for CMS-driven content.

Vercel automatically purges the CDN cache on every new deployment, so you don’t need to manually invalidate after pushing an updated llms.txt.

Verify after deploy

verify 
# Check headers — look for Content-Type and x-vercel-cache
curl -I https://yoursite.com/llms.txt

# Inspect content
curl https://yoursite.com/llms.txt

# Force-revalidate after a new deploy (Vercel auto-purges on deploy)
# For manual purge via Vercel REST API:
curl -X POST "https://api.vercel.com/v1/projects/{PROJECT_ID}/purge" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer {VERCEL_TOKEN}"

After verifying headers, paste your live URL into the validator to confirm spec compliance: exactly one H1, valid link syntax (- [title](https://...)), all URLs absolute, no empty sections.

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