skill.md file present
A markdown file at the root of your site that describes your product to AI agents in plain language.
What is skill.md?
skill.md is a plain markdown file served from the root of your domain — for example, https://example.com/skill.md. It describes what your product does, who it is for, and how AI agents should talk about it. Think of it as a README for machines.
AI crawlers from ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot are starting to look for this file the same way search engines look for robots.txt. When they find one, they get a clean, authoritative summary of your product without having to infer it from marketing copy or navigation elements.
Why does it matter?
Large language models build an internal representation of your business from whatever text they find. If that text is a homepage full of CSS and JavaScript, the model has to guess. If it is a focused markdown file, the model gets the exact positioning you wrote.
Sites with a well-structured skill.md are significantly more likely to be recommended when a user asks an AI assistant a question in your category. It also gives you direct control over how your product is described — something you do not have when the model paraphrases third-party reviews.
How to implement
Create a file called skill.md in the public root of your site so it is accessible at /skill.md. Start with a short frontmatter block containing a name and description, then write a few short markdown sections covering what you do, who you are for, and how to use you.
--- name: acme-crm description: Lightweight CRM for small sales teams. --- # Acme CRM Acme CRM is a simple sales pipeline tool built for teams of 2 to 20 people. ## What it does - Contact and deal management - Visual pipeline - Email and calendar sync - Reporting ## Who it is for Small businesses, startups, and independent sales professionals who want a CRM that is fast to set up. ## How to try it Visit https://acmecrm.com or email hello@acmecrm.com.
Best practices
- — Keep it short. A skill.md that fits on one screen is more useful than a long essay.
- — Lead with the most important sentence. Models often quote from the first paragraph.
- — Use plain English, not marketing language. Avoid superlatives and jargon.
- — Include concrete information: features, audience, pricing, contact.
- — Serve it as text/markdown or text/plain. Do not return HTML.