---
title: llms.txt for WordPress — AI Discovery File Setup — citelayer®
url: https://citelayer.ai/docs/llms-txt/
date: 2026-02-25
---

# llms.txt for WordPress — AI Discovery File Setup

Why This Matters
----------------

AI crawlers need a map of your site. They don’t browse page by page like humans — they look for structured discovery files that describe what your site offers and where to find key content.

`llms.txt` is a plain-text discovery file served at `/llms.txt` — think of it as `robots.txt` for AI models. First proposed by Andrej Karpathy, it gives language models a concise overview of your site: what it’s about, what content exists, and where to access it programmatically.

Without `llms.txt`, AI models guess. With it, they know exactly what your site provides. Citelayer® generates this file dynamically from your WordPress data — no manual editing, no static files to maintain.

How It Works
------------

Citelayer® registers a WordPress rewrite rule that intercepts requests to `/llms.txt` and generates the file dynamically. The output is structured plain text with a consistent format that AI models can parse reliably.

### Output Structure

Your generated `llms.txt` follows this structure:

```
# Your Site Name

Your site's tagline or description.

## About This Site
- URL: https://yoursite.com
- Language: en-US
- Character Set: UTF-8

## Contact
- Admin Email: admin@yoursite.com

## Content Statistics
- Posts: 142
- Pages: 12

## Semantic API Endpoints
- Schema REST API: https://yoursite.com/wp-json/citelayer/v1/schema
- UCP Discovery: https://yoursite.com/.well-known/ucp.json
- WebMCP Context: https://yoursite.com/wp-json/citelayer/v1/mcp

## AI-Optimized Content
- Markdown Index: https://yoursite.com/wp-json/citelayer/v1/markdown-index

## Recent Posts
- How to Configure Schema Markup: https://yoursite.com/configure-schema-markup/
- Getting Started with Citelayer: https://yoursite.com/getting-started/
- (up to 10 recent published posts)

Generated by Citelayer® (https://citelayer.ai) — AI Visibility Layer for WordPress
```

The file adapts to your configuration. Sections like **Semantic API Endpoints** and **AI-Optimized Content** only appear when the corresponding features are enabled. If you activate [UCP Discovery](/docs/ucp-discovery/), its endpoint shows up automatically. Same for [Markdown](/docs/markdown-for-agents/) and [WebMCP](/docs/webmcp/).

### Content-Type and Caching

Citelayer® serves `llms.txt` with `Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8`. Browser caching is disabled (via `nocache_headers`) so you always see the latest version during development. Behind the scenes, WordPress transient caching keeps generation fast — the file rebuilds from cache rather than querying the database on every request.

Endpoint
--------

The file is available at a single URL:

```
https://yoursite.com/llms.txt
```

Citelayer® registers this via a WordPress rewrite rule:

```
^llms.txt$ → index.php?citelayer_llms_txt=1
```

The rewrite rule is flushed automatically on plugin activation. If you move or reinstall Citelayer®, the rule re-registers itself.

Configuration
-------------

Navigate to **Settings → Citelayer → llms.txt** in your WordPress admin to configure the feature.

### Enable or Disable

You can disable `llms.txt` generation entirely from the admin settings. When disabled, requests to `/llms.txt` fall through to WordPress’s normal 404 handling.

### SEO Plugin Compatibility

Some SEO plugins (Rank Math, Yoast) generate their own `llms.txt`. Citelayer® detects these and offers two modes:

- **Enhance mode:** If your SEO plugin already generates `llms.txt`, Citelayer® enhances that output by appending semantic endpoint information, content statistics, and other data the SEO plugin doesn’t include. The SEO plugin stays in control — Citelayer® adds to it.
- **Replace mode:** Citelayer® generates its own `llms.txt` and disables the SEO plugin’s version. Use this when you want full control over the output.

**Yoast special case:** If Yoast SEO is active but has no physical `llms.txt` file, Citelayer® takes over automatically. No configuration needed — Citelayer® detects the absence and fills the gap.

### Conflict Detection

If Citelayer® detects multiple SEO plugin families trying to control `llms.txt` (for example, both Rank Math and Yoast active simultaneously), it returns a **503 Service Unavailable** response with a `Retry-After: 3600` header. This prevents conflicting output. Resolve the conflict by deactivating one of the SEO plugins or choosing a specific mode in Citelayer® settings.

### Content Filter

Use the `citelayer_llmstxt_content` filter to modify the content array before Citelayer® renders the output. This lets you add custom sections, remove default ones, or restructure the file to match your needs.

```
add_filter( 'citelayer_llmstxt_content', function( $content ) {
    // Add a custom section
    $content['custom_section'] = [
        'heading' => '## Custom Data',
        'lines'   => [
            '- API Documentation: https://yoursite.com/api-docs/',
            '- Developer Portal: https://yoursite.com/developers/',
        ],
    ];
    return $content;
} );
```

For a full list of available filters, see [Hooks & Filters](/docs/hooks-filters/).

Verify Your Setup
-----------------

After activating Citelayer®, confirm that `llms.txt` works correctly:

1. **Open your browser** and visit `https://yoursite.com/llms.txt`.
2. **Check the heading.** The first line should read `# Your Site Name` (matching your WordPress site title).
3. **Verify the footer.** The last line should say `Generated by Citelayer® (https://citelayer.ai) — AI Visibility Layer for WordPress`.
4. **Confirm dynamic sections.** If you have [Schema REST API](/docs/rest-api/) or [Markdown endpoints](/docs/markdown-for-agents/) enabled, their URLs should appear under **Semantic API Endpoints** or **AI-Optimized Content**.
5. **If using Enhance mode** with Rank Math or Yoast, verify that the SEO plugin’s base output is present with Citelayer®’s additions appended.

You can also verify with `curl`:

```
curl -s https://yoursite.com/llms.txt
```

Technical Details
-----------------

### Caching

Citelayer® stores the generated `llms.txt` content in a WordPress transient:

- **Transient key:** `citelayer_llmstxt_content`
- **TTL:** 1 hour
- **Auto-invalidation events:** `save_post`, `delete_post`, `switch_theme`, updates to `blogname` or `blogdescription`

When any of these events fire, the transient is deleted. The next request to `/llms.txt` regenerates the content and stores a fresh transient. This means your `llms.txt` stays current — publish a new post and it appears in the **Recent Posts** section within seconds.

### Rewrite Rules

The rewrite rule `^llms.txt$` is registered during plugin activation and flushed automatically. If you notice `/llms.txt` returning a 404, visit **Settings → Permalinks** in WordPress admin and click **Save Changes** to flush rewrite rules manually.

### How citelayer.ai Uses This

The Citelayer® website at [citelayer.ai](https://citelayer.ai) runs on WordPress with Citelayer® installed. Visit [citelayer.ai/llms.txt](https://citelayer.ai/llms.txt) to see a live example of the generated output.

Related Documentation
---------------------

- [Schema REST API](/docs/rest-api/) — The semantic endpoint referenced in llms.txt
- [Markdown for Agents](/docs/markdown-for-agents/) — Clean content endpoints linked from llms.txt
- [Hooks & Filters](/docs/hooks-filters/) — Customize llms.txt output with the `citelayer_llmstxt_content` filter