llms.txt in documentation generators

How to enable llms.txt in Starlight, VitePress, Docusaurus, MkDocs and Nuxt - a working setup for each, which files the plugin creates and what to check after the build

What each plugin creates

Generator	Package	`llms.txt`	`llms-full.txt`	Markdown versions of pages
Starlight	`starlight-llms-txt`	yes	yes, plus `llms-small.txt`	not stated
VitePress	`vitepress-plugin-llms`	yes	yes	yes
Docusaurus	`docusaurus-plugin-llms`	yes	yes	by option
Docusaurus	`@signalwire/docusaurus-plugin-llms-txt`	yes	by option	yes
MkDocs	`mkdocs-llmstxt`	yes	by option	for listed files
Nuxt	`nuxt-llms`	yes	by option	no

Setup

pnpm add starlight-llms-txt

import starlight from '@astrojs/starlight'
import { defineConfig } from 'astro/config'
import starlightLlmsTxt from 'starlight-llms-txt'

export default defineConfig({
  site: 'https://example.com/',
  integrations: [
    starlight({
      title: 'My Docs',
      plugins: [starlightLlmsTxt()],
    }),
  ],
})

The site field is required: without it the plugin cannot build absolute addresses. The output is three files: llms.txt, llms-full.txt and a shortened llms-small.txt.

npm install vitepress-plugin-llms --save-dev

import { defineConfig } from 'vitepress'
import llmstxt from 'vitepress-plugin-llms'

export default defineConfig({
  vite: {
    plugins: [llmstxt()],
  },
})

The plugin creates llms.txt, llms-full.txt and a Markdown version of every page.

The plugin’s author advises using it for English documentation only. For a multilingual site, take that limit into account in advance.

There are two live plugins. The first is simpler to set up:

npm install docusaurus-plugin-llms --save-dev

module.exports = {
  plugins: ['docusaurus-plugin-llms'],
}

The second can do more and creates Markdown versions of pages:

npm install @signalwire/docusaurus-plugin-llms-txt

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    [
      '@signalwire/docusaurus-plugin-llms-txt',
      {
        outputDir: 'llms-txt',
        includePatterns: ['**/*.html'],
        excludePatterns: ['**/404.html'],
      },
    ],
  ],
}

The similarly named unscoped package docusaurus-plugin-llms-txt has not been updated since December 2024. It is not worth taking.

pip install mkdocs-llmstxt

site_name: My project
site_description: Description of my project.
site_url: https://example.com/

plugins:
  - llmstxt:
      markdown_description: Long description of my project.
      full_output: llms-full.txt
      sections:
        Documentation:
          - index.md: Where to start
          - api.md: API reference

The site_url field is required. Sections and files are listed by hand: this is the only plugin of the five that forces a selection. The full_output line enables llms-full.txt.

The author has declared the project to be in maintenance mode.

npm i nuxt-llms

export default defineNuxtConfig({
  modules: ['nuxt-llms'],
  llms: {
    domain: 'https://example.com',
    title: 'My Site',
    description: 'What the site is and who it is for.',
    full: {
      title: 'Full documentation',
      description: 'The whole documentation text in one file.',
    },
  },
})

Only the domain field is required. The full block enables llms-full.txt.

Platforms with nothing to set up

Platform	What is created automatically
Mintlify	`llms.txt` and `llms-full.txt` at the project root; a very long index is split into parts
GitBook	`llms.txt`, `llms-full.txt` and a Markdown version of any page at the address ending in `.md`

This explains why so many documentation sites have the files although their owners configured nothing.

Discovery relations

Plugins create the files, but not all of them add the relations from the second edition of the proposal to pages. Check whether the page code has these lines:

<link rel="alternate" type="text/markdown" href="/docs/page.md">
<link rel="describedby" href="/llms.txt">

If not, add them through the page head template. More: Discovery of the file and Markdown versions.

After the build

llms.txt appeared in the build folder and answers 200 on the site.
It has the site name and summary.
Link addresses are absolute and on the right domain.
Drafts and hidden pages did not get into the file.
The size of llms-full.txt is reasonable.
Markdown versions of pages open, if the plugin creates them.

Commands for checking: Validating files and markup.