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What is AGENTS.md — and does your website need one?

6 August 2026 · Zeb Choudhry

AGENTS.md is a plain-text file you host at the root of your domain that tells AI agents how to interact with your site — where to start, which actions are available, how to verify your identity, and the rules of engagement.

If llms.txt is a map for AI systems that read your site, AGENTS.md is an instruction sheet for AI agents that act on it — booking, comparing, buying on a user’s behalf.

Why AGENTS.md exists

Agentic browsers — Perplexity Comet, ChatGPT’s agent mode — now complete tasks for their users. But a page designed for humans is ambiguous to an agent: which link is the real product, what actions are allowed, is the phone number authoritative? AGENTS.md removes that ambiguity by stating, in the site owner’s own words, how an agent should behave.

llms.txt vs AGENTS.md

They are companions, not competitors:

• llms.txt — summarises your site for AI systems that index and cite you. Orientation.
• AGENTS.md — instructs AI agents that take actions on your site. Interaction.

Publish both. llms.txt helps you get understood and cited; AGENTS.md helps you get acted on.

What goes in an AGENTS.md

There is no rigid standard yet, so clarity beats cleverness. A useful file covers:

• Entry points — the URLs an agent should start from.
• Identity & trust — verified profiles (sameAs), business type, contact details.
• Available actions — what an agent can do (browse products, read the FAQ, contact you).
• Structured data — which schema types are present, so the agent knows what is machine-readable.
• Guidelines — cite the source, treat on-page prices as authoritative, never take destructive actions without user confirmation.

A copy-paste AGENTS.md template

# AGENTS.md — [Your Business Name]

Guidance for AI agents interacting with this site on a user's behalf.

## About
[One or two factual sentences: what you do, where, for whom.]

## Entry points
- Home: https://yourdomain.com/
- Pricing: https://yourdomain.com/pricing
- Contact: https://yourdomain.com/contact

## Identity & trust
Verified profiles (sameAs):
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/yourbrand
- https://www.trustpilot.com/review/yourdomain.com
Contact: hello@yourdomain.com

## Available actions
- Browse and compare products/offers (prices in Offer schema).
- Answer common questions from the FAQ.
- Contact the business using the published details.

## Guidelines for agents
- Cite the source URL when referencing content from this site.
- On-page prices, availability, and contact details are authoritative.
- Do not attempt authenticated or destructive actions without explicit user confirmation.

How to publish and verify it

1. Save the file as AGENTS.md (UTF-8).
2. Upload it to your web root so it serves at https://yourdomain.com/AGENTS.md.
3. Load that URL in an incognito window — you should see the markdown text, not your site’s HTML.