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llms.txt and MCP for AI coding tools

Written by Joseph Russo, Principal Architect, Networks and Tech, AskVault · Reviewed by Allison Chan
Last updated: · 4 min read

Rolling out. Rolling out AI-tool discovery for hosted pages is built and rolling out; it is not switched on for every workspace yet. Ask support if you want early access.

What gets published

FileAddressWhat it is
llms.txthttps://api.askvault.co/c/{your-slug}/llms.txtA Markdown index of your public pages, in the llms.txt format
MCP serverhttps://api.askvault.co/c/{your-slug}/mcpRead-only, Streamable HTTP, one search tool
Server cardhttps://api.askvault.co/c/{your-slug}/mcp/server-cardConnection details in the MCP Server Card format

With a verified custom domain, the same files are also served at the root of that domain: /llms.txt, /mcp and /mcp/server-card. The domain also serves /.well-known/ai-catalog.json, the file MCP clients that support domain discovery look for. It also serves a copy of the server card at /.well-known/mcp.json, a path several third-party guides recommend; that path is not part of the MCP specification. Your domain's addresses work once its SSL certificate is issued.

What is public, and what never is

Only pages AskVault crawled from your website are listed or searchable. Each one must be indexed and enabled.

These are never included:

  • Uploaded files (PDF, DOCX, spreadsheets)
  • Content from connected apps, such as Notion, Confluence, Jira, Zendesk, Salesforce, Google Drive, GitHub and YouTube
  • Q&A pairs and snippets
  • Sources whose audience is Internal Team Only, and disabled sources
  • Anything from another workspace

Every page in the index is already published on your own website, and your open chat page can already answer questions from it.

When it is off

The files are served only while the hosted page is open to anyone. They switch off, and return 404, while the page is:

  • Unpublished
  • Password-protected
  • Asking visitors for an email before they can chat

The AI coding tools panel on the hosted page settings shows whether it is live, and why not if it isn't.

Connect an AI tool

Copy these from the AI coding tools panel on your hosted page settings. They come with your page's address filled in.

Claude Code:

Terminal window
claude mcp add --transport http acme https://api.askvault.co/c/acme/mcp

Cursor (~/.cursor/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "acme": { "url": "https://api.askvault.co/c/acme/mcp" }
  }
}

Any other MCP client: add a remote server with the MCP server URL. No headers or key needed.

Claude Code and Cursor are set up by pasting the URL once, as above. MCP clients that support Server Cards can instead find the server from your domain's /.well-known/ai-catalog.json.

The search tool

search takes a query (a question or keywords, up to 500 characters) and an optional max_results (1 to 10, default 5). It returns text passages copied from your pages, best match first. Each passage comes with its page title and URL.

No language model writes or rewrites the result. The passages are your pages' own text, found with the same search index your agent uses, so the AI tool reads and cites your wording. It can still misread what it gets, so the URL is always included for the developer to check.

Limits

  • Search: 60 calls per minute per IP address, and 600 per minute per workspace.
  • llms.txt and cards: 120 requests per minute per IP address. The files tell clients to cache them (10 minutes for llms.txt, an hour for the cards).
  • Index size: llms.txt lists up to 1,000 pages. The search tool reaches every public page.
  • Credits: search does not generate an answer, so it uses no message credits.

Protocol support

The MCP server answers both kinds of client in use today: clients that start with an initialize handshake (protocol versions 2025-03-26, 2025-06-18 and 2025-11-25) and stateless clients on protocol version 2026-07-28, including their optional server/discover call. It returns JSON responses. It does not stream and does not keep sessions.

What is not included

  • Answers written by your agent. The public server only searches. For a finished, agent-written answer, use the per-workspace MCP server with an API key, or NLWeb.
  • Resources and prompts. Only the search tool is offered.
  • A separate off switch. Today the files follow the hosted page: to turn them off, unpublish the page or add a password or email step.
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