README

Varbase AI Readable Base

A Drupal recipe that makes a Varbase 11 site readable by AI tools. It serves /llms.txt, built from the site name, slogan, main menu and footer menu, and a Markdown version of every content item and taxonomy term, at <path>.md or for a request sent with Accept: text/markdown. The HTML pages are unchanged.

Related upstream projects are ai_recipe_llm_optimized_content (Drupal AI Initiative) and llm_support (Pronovix).

It is built on llms_txt and Markdownify, both stable and covered by the Drupal security advisory policy. There is no custom PHP and no custom shell code in the recipe: its checks run inline in CI, so the repository holds no PHP file at all.

Required: one line in settings.php. Varbase ships Fast 404, which answers every *.txt path with a 404 before Drupal routes it, so /llms.txt is a 404 until you add the line below. A recipe cannot set $settings, so this step is yours. See The fast_404 step.

What it adds

Part	What it does
Modules	Installs `llms_txt`, `markdownify`, `markdownify_path` (Markdown at a path alias plus `.md`) and `markdownify_file_attachment` (text attachments embedded in the Markdown). Not `markdownify_views`: see Known issues.
`llms_txt.settings`	The llms.txt content: `# [site:name]`, `[site:slogan]`, then `## Main navigation` with `[llms_txt_markdown_menu:main]` and `## Footer` with `[llms_txt_markdown_menu:footer]`. Each menu link becomes a Markdown link.
`markdownify.settings`	Basic pages, book pages and announcements are rendered to Markdown from their `search_index` view mode, the content without the page layout: with a Canvas content template the full view mode is the whole layout. Other bundles keep the full view mode.
Permissions	SEO admin: administer the llms.txt content and sections. Site admin: the same, plus the Markdownify settings.

What a site answers once the recipe is applied and the settings.php line is in:

Request	Answer
`/llms.txt`	200 `text/markdown`, listing the main and footer menu links
`/node/<nid>.md`, `/<alias>.md`, or any node or term page with `Accept: text/markdown`	200 `text/markdown`, with `X-Robots-Tag: noindex`
The same page without that header	200 `text/html`, as before
`/robots.txt`	unchanged
Any other `*.txt`	still a fast 404

Requirements

Drupal core ^11.4, Varbase 11, with its main and footer menus and the seo_admin and site_admin roles
drupal/llms_txt ~1.1 (1.1.1 when this was written)
drupal/markdownify ~1.2 (1.2.0 when this was written)
No AI provider or key: nothing here calls a model

Install and apply

# 1. Fetch the recipe.
ddev composer config --json extra.drupal-recipe-unpack.ignore '["drupal/varbase_ai_readable_base"]'
ddev composer require drupal/varbase_ai_readable_base:1.0.x-dev

# 2. Rebuild caches first, so Drupal sees the modules Composer just added.
ddev drush cr

# 3. Apply it.
ddev drush recipe ../recipes/varbase_ai_readable_base
ddev drush cr

Do not skip the first drush cr. Drupal caches its list of modules, so applying the recipe straight after composer require stops with "llms_txt" is not a known module or theme (and the same for each Markdownify module), even though the code is on disk. Nothing is changed when that happens: rebuild caches and apply again.

Then add the settings.php line below. Re-applying the recipe is safe. The ignore line keeps the recipe a locked package: without it core's recipe-unpack plugin moves its requirements into the project's composer.json and drops the recipe itself. If the project already ignores other packages, add this one to its list rather than replacing it.

On a project whose locked packages have open security advisories, Composer 2.9 can refuse a plain require. Require this package on its own, as above: it adds only the recipe when llms_txt and markdownify are already there. Do not run a full composer update to get past it.

The fast_404 step

Add this to web/sites/default/settings.php (or the settings file your hosting includes):

// Fast 404 answers every *.txt path before Drupal routes it, which hides the
// /llms.txt route of the llms_txt module. This is the module's default pattern
// with /llms.txt exempted next to /robots; every other .txt still fast-404s.
$settings['fast404_exts'] = '/^(?!\/robots)^(?!\/llms\.txt$)^(?!\/system\/files).*\.(txt|png|gif|jpe?g|css|js|ico|swf|flv|cgi|bat|pl|dll|exe|asp)$/i';

Without it /llms.txt returns Fast 404's own XHTML 404 page over HTTP. A drush request does not go through Fast 404, so a check from drush alone passes and hides the problem: always check with a real HTTP request:

curl -sI https://your-site.ddev.site/llms.txt | grep -iE '^(HTTP|content-type)'

If the site already sets fast404_exts, add ^(?!\/llms\.txt$) to its pattern instead.

No cache clear is needed: Fast 404's 404 is not page-cached. A host that runs OPcache with validate_timestamps off only picks up the changed settings.php after PHP restarts, which a deploy does.

Automated testing

GitLab CI on git.drupalcode.org (.gitlab-ci.yml) runs on every merge request and every push to 1.0.x, like the other Varbase AI recipes: composer validate and a lint of every YAML file.

The functional tests in tests/features (Playwright and Cucumber through @vardot/varbase-e2e) run against a site of your own: yarn install, then LAUNCH_URL=https://your-site.ddev.site yarn test.

Checked

14 October 2026, by hand, on a Varbase 11 site (Varbase Starter, Drupal 11.4.9, vardot/varbase ~11.0.0, llms_txt 1.1.1, Markdownify 1.2.0, Fast 404 3.7.0): applied twice with an identical config export after the second apply, and every request in the table above answered as listed, with no new error in the log.

14 October 2026, again on a fresh Varbase Starter site built in the Vardot Workspace test folder (cmd-varbase_starter1-0-0-project.sh --install: Varbase Starter ~1.0.0, vardot/varbase 11.0.0, Drupal 11.4.9, drupal/cva 1.0.1, Fast 404 3.7.0), following the steps above exactly:

Applying without the first drush cr failed with "llms_txt" is not a known module or theme, which is why that step is there. With it, both applies passed and the config export was identical after the second.
Before the settings.php line /llms.txt answered Fast 404's 404; after it, 200 text/markdown with the main menu (About Varbase, Features, Blog, Contact Us) and the footer menu (Terms and Conditions).
A Starter blog post answered 200 text/markdown at <alias>.md, at /node/<nid>.md and with Accept: text/markdown, carrying its title, date, image and full body (202 words against 55 KB of HTML). The HTML page stayed text/html.
/nothing.txt was still a 404, /robots.txt unchanged, the home page, Canvas pages and the login page all 200, and no new error in the log.

Not yet checked on Educare, Horizon Aid or The Rightup.

Known issues

Canvas pages have no Markdown. Markdownify covers nodes and taxonomy terms only, so the Varbase 11 Canvas pages (canvas_page entities: About, Features, Blog, Contact on Varbase Starter) get no .md version and are listed in /llms.txt as links only. Accept: text/markdown on a Canvas page answers 406.
Views have no Markdown. markdownify_views 1.2.0 answers HTTP 500 for the Markdown of any View on Drupal 11.4 ("Typed property ViewPageController::$contextualLinks must not be accessed before initialization"), so the recipe does not install it. Fixed on 1.1.x-dev, unreleased: https://www.drupal.org/i/3590402. Until a release, a View with Accept: text/markdown answers 406.
The Markdown of a Varbase Starter post carries some page chrome. Markdownify renders the node's full view mode, so on Varbase Starter the output also holds the breadcrumb (1. [Home](/)), the image twice (once as the lazy-load data:image/svg+xml placeholder) and the Share links. The share links point at the internal /markdownify/node/<nid> route rather than the page's own URL. The body itself is complete. A trimmed view mode for Markdown is a candidate follow-up; Markdownify 1.2 can pick a view mode per bundle.
On a site with Twig 3.30, drupal/cva 1.0.0 fails every page (including the Markdown ones) with a 500; update it to 1.0.1. This is not caused by the recipe.

Related work

AI Recipe: LLM Optimized Content, also built on Markdownify. It is a recipe, so it is not covered by the security advisory policy.
The LLM Support recipe.

Recipe	What it does
Varbase AI Search Base	A vector index of the site's content.
Varbase AI Answers Base	Ask AI: cited answers over that index.
Varbase AI Content Review Base	AI review of any content item.

License

GPL-2.0-or-later. See LICENSE. Maintained by Vardot.

drupal / varbase_ai_readable_base

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