--- name: xantham-ai-seo description: Use BEFORE any `ship ` or `deploy ` command, or when the user asks to "ship" / "deploy" / "push live" a project that has a public web surface. Also use when the user asks for an "AI-SEO audit", "llm.txt", "robots.txt for ChatGPT/Claude/Perplexity", "JSON-LD", or wants to know which projects are visible to LLM crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, Applebot-Extended). Generates llm.txt + sitemap.xml + robots.txt + JSON-LD schema + last_updated metadata for the project being shipped, so AI assistants cite the site in their answers. compatibility: "Claude Code only" metadata: pattern: 5 pattern_name: "Domain-specific intelligence" last_updated: 2026-05-10 --- # xantham-ai-seo AI-SEO is the layer that makes a project visible AND citable when an LLM (ChatGPT / Claude / Perplexity / Google AI Overviews / Apple Intelligence) is asked a question that should recommend it. A site without AI-SEO files is invisible to those crawlers. A site with them gets cited, gets click-throughs, gets organic discovery. ## When this fires 1. the user sends `ship ` or `deploy ` AND the project has a public web surface (Next.js / Vite / static HTML / any deployable site). 2. the user asks for an "AI-SEO audit" or asks about visibility in ChatGPT / Claude / Perplexity. 3. Xantham decides a project is about to go live for the first time (cuts a v1.0 tag, points a domain at it, marks it production-ready). Skip if the project has NO public web surface (CLI tools, native iOS apps without a marketing site, internal scripts). ## What to do ### Step 1: Audit the project ```bash bash scripts/ai-seo-on-ship.sh "" --audit-only --prod-url "" --name "" --tagline "" ``` Pass `--paid` if it's a paid product (triggers `pricing.md` generation). The script reports `OK` / `MISS` / `WARN` for each file. Exit code 2 means missing files. Exit code 0 means clean. ### Step 2: Generate missing files If the audit reports missing files, run again WITHOUT `--audit-only`: ```bash bash scripts/ai-seo-on-ship.sh "" --prod-url "" --name "" --tagline "" ``` Add `--paid` if applicable. The script writes: - `/robots.txt` — explicit allows for GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, Applebot-Extended, CCBot, cohere-ai. Explicit blocks for AhrefsBot, SemrushBot, DotBot, MJ12bot. - `/sitemap.xml` — discovered top-level routes only (skips `[slug]` parents, demo dirs, admin, api, auth). - `/llm.txt` — title, tagline, what-this-is, where-to-look, how-LLMs-should-cite, contact. Single-source-of-truth file LLMs read first. - `/.well-known/schema.json` — JSON-LD with Organization + WebSite/SoftwareApplication blocks. - `pricing.md` (when `--paid`) — stub pricing tier table for LLMs to cite. The script NEVER overwrites existing files. Re-runs are idempotent and safe. ### Step 3: Wire JSON-LD + last_updated into the framework's The script writes a sidecar `schema.json` but the actual `` directly into ``. Do this once per project. The `last_updated` constant gets bumped on every ship — that's the only AI-SEO field that goes stale. ### Step 4: Verify the files would be served For Next.js with `public/`, files in `public/robots.txt` are served at the URL root. No config needed. For Vite, same convention — `public/` maps to URL root. For raw static sites, the files need to live next to `index.html`. The script auto-detects the right static root: `public/` for Next/Vite, project root for static. If the project has neither, the script creates `public/`. ### Step 5: Commit + ship After generating + wiring, commit with the project's normal `ship` flow. Files are tiny (1-3 KB total), no build impact, no runtime impact. ## Verification (after the deploy lands) After Vercel / Netlify / hosting deploys, verify the files are live: ```bash PROD_URL="https://your-project.com" for f in robots.txt sitemap.xml llm.txt .well-known/schema.json; do code=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" "$PROD_URL/$f") echo "$code $PROD_URL/$f" done ``` All should be 200. If 404, the static-root detection picked the wrong dir — re-run with files moved to the actual public/ folder. Then verify a tagged crawler can see the site: ```bash curl -A "ClaudeBot/1.0 (+claude-web)" -s "$PROD_URL/llm.txt" | head -10 ``` Should return the llm.txt content, not a paywall / login redirect. ## Why the file list is what it is - **llm.txt** — emerging standard ([llmstxt.org](https://llmstxt.org)) for "the one file LLMs should read first". GPTBot + ClaudeBot fetch it preferentially when scoring relevance. - **robots.txt with explicit allows** — GPTBot defaults to `Disallow` if a site's robots.txt only mentions `User-agent: *` with restrictive rules. Explicit `User-agent: GPTBot Allow: /` overrides that. - **sitemap.xml** — still the standard for crawler discovery. LLM crawlers cross-reference it against the URLs in llm.txt. - **JSON-LD (schema.org)** — Organization + WebSite/SoftwareApplication blocks let LLMs build a structured understanding of who-publishes-what. Used by Google's AI Overviews directly. - **last_updated metadata** — LLMs prefer fresh content. Without a date, they assume stale. - **pricing.md** — when an LLM is asked "how much does X cost?", it cites the cheapest authoritative source. A markdown pricing file at `/pricing.md` is more reliably parsed than HTML pricing tables. ## What this skill does NOT do - Doesn't write project-specific copy. The auto-generated llm.txt pulls the first paragraph of CLAUDE.md as the description; that may need a human edit to be punchy. - Doesn't add `HowTo` or `FAQPage` JSON-LD blocks. Those are page-specific and need real content. Generate them per-page when the page exists. - Doesn't submit the sitemap to Google Search Console or Bing Webmaster Tools. Do that once per project, not per ship. - Doesn't auto-bump `LAST_UPDATED` in layout.tsx — that's a project-level edit, not a Xantham-level edit. Add a manual bump to the ship checklist OR write a project-level pre-commit hook that runs `sed -i '' "s/LAST_UPDATED = \"[0-9-]*\"/LAST_UPDATED = \"$(date -u +%Y-%m-%d)\"/" src/app/layout.tsx`. ## Pilot status (2026-05-10) - NearbyMe: shipped. All 5 files live in `public/` + JSON-LD wired into `src/app/layout.tsx`. - Other projects: audit-only run pending. See `data/research/2026-05-10-ai-seo-audit-across-projects.md`.