llms.txt is a plain-text file at the root of your store that summarizes your store’s content in a format AI assistants and other generative-engine crawlers can read easily. This article explains what X-Cart includes in the file, how to enable and generate it, and how it fits alongside your existing SEO setup.
Overview
Search engines have long relied on files like robots.txt and sitemap.xml to understand and crawl a website. llms.txt follows the same idea, but it’s aimed at AI assistants and other generative-engine (“GEO”) crawlers — tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity that answer questions by summarizing content from across the web. Publishing an llms.txt file gives these tools a concise, structured overview of your store: what you sell, how it’s organized, and where to find more.
When enabled, X-Cart generates a single markdown file containing:
Your store’s name, description, and contact details
Your brands and categories
Featured and best-selling products
Vehicle fitment information (for automotive-configured stores)
Links to your content pages and other useful store resources (sitemap, product feed, and more)
The file is published at your store’s root — for example, https://yourstore.com/llms.txt — the same way robots.txt and sitemap.xml are.
This is a new and still-evolving convention across the web, without an established way to verify how much it currently influences AI-generated answers. Enabling it is low-effort and doesn’t affect your storefront or existing SEO setup either way.
Requirements
Your store runs X-Cart 5.6.0.16 or higher
For periodic (scheduled) generation, your store’s cron must be configured — see Scheduled X-Cart Tasks
To include a link to your Google product feed in the file, the Google Feed add-on must be installed and enabled
Enabling llms.txt
To open the settings:
In your admin, go to Settings → SEO.
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Select the LLMS.txt tab (the last tab on the page).
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You will find the following settings:
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Enable periodic generation: A toggle.
Off (Default) — the file is only generated when you click Generate LLMS.txt manually (see Generating the file).
On — reveals the Frequency of LLMS.txt renewal setting, and the file is regenerated automatically on that schedule via your store’s cron.
Frequency of LLMS.txt renewal: A dropdown, available when Enable periodic generation is on. Options: daily (default) or weekly.
This setting only takes effect if your store’s cron is set up and running — see Scheduled X-Cart Tasks. Without cron configured, periodic generation won’t run even with this toggle on.
Add Google Feed URL: A toggle. Default: off. Only shown if the Google Feed add-on is enabled on your store.
When on, adds a link to your generated Google product feed inside the
llms.txtfile, alongside your other store links.LLMs.txt URL: A read-only field showing the live link to your file once it’s been generated at least once — use it to check the file’s current contents at any time.
Generating the file
llms.txt is a generated file, not something rendered fresh on every visit — it’s a snapshot of your store’s content at the time it was last generated, the same approach X-Cart uses for sitemap.xml and product feeds.
You can generate (or regenerate) it two ways:
Click Generate LLMS.txt on the Settings → SEO → LLMS.txt tab at any time. Generation runs as a background job, so you can keep working in the admin while it completes.
Turn on Enable periodic generation to have it regenerated automatically on the schedule you choose (daily or weekly).
If you make changes to your catalog, brands, or content pages, the published file won’t reflect them until the next generation — manual or scheduled.
What’s included in llms.txt
The file is organized as a single markdown document, in this order:
Title and description — pulled from your homepage SEO settings (Settings → SEO → Homepage). See Managing Homepage Meta Elements.
Website, email, and phone — pulled from your store profile (Settings → Company).
(Optional) A link to your Google product feed, if Add Google Feed URL is on.
Brands — each brand’s name, storefront link, and meta description, based on your brand listing.
Categories — your root categories and one level of subcategories.
Root categories are always listed, even if no products are directly assigned to them.
Subcategories are listed only if they (or their own subcategories) contain at least one product.
Featured products — your best-selling and featured products from the homepage, combined into a single list with no duplicates.
Vehicle fitment (automotive-configured stores) — an introductory line and a link to your vehicle finder, followed by a list of the vehicle makes you’ve marked as Show on Front page. If your store doesn’t use the vehicle finder, only the introductory line and link are included.
Pages — links to every content page listed on Content → Pages in your admin, including pages created automatically by add-ons (for example, a Privacy Policy page added by a GDPR add-on), plus your Contact Us page.
Optional resources — links to
robots.txt,sitemap.xml(if the XML Sitemap add-on is enabled), your Google product feed (if enabled), and your Best Sellers and New Arrivals pages.
Everything in the file is generated automatically from your existing store data — there’s no separate content to write or maintain specifically for llms.txt.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Do I need to submit llms.txt anywhere, like I would with a sitemap in Search Console?
No. Unlike sitemap.xml, there’s no submission or verification step for llms.txt with any provider. It’s a convention that AI crawlers check for on their own when they visit your site — you simply publish the file and it’s available if and when a crawler looks for it.
Q: Will this affect my existing SEO or how search engines crawl my store?
No. llms.txt is a separate, additional file — it doesn’t change your robots.txt, sitemap.xml, meta tags, or any other SEO setting you already have configured.
Q: I turned on periodic generation, but the file isn’t updating. What’s wrong?
Periodic generation depends on your store’s cron running as scheduled. If cron isn’t configured, turning the toggle on won’t have any effect. See Scheduled X-Cart Tasks to check your setup, or click Generate LLMS.txt to update the file manually in the meantime.
Q: Why is a category from my catalog missing from the file?
Subcategories only appear if they (or their own subcategories) contain at least one product. If a subcategory is currently empty, it won’t be listed until it has products assigned, directly or through its own subcategories. Root categories always appear regardless of product count.
Q: Can I customize what’s included in the file?
Not in this version. Beyond the two toggles (periodic generation and the Google Feed link), the file’s content and structure are generated automatically and aren’t user-configurable.
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