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Overview

Add the RSL License directive to your robots.txt file so bots and crawlers can automatically discover your content licensing terms. The robots.txt file is the standard way for websites to communicate with automated agents.

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What You’ll Add

A single License: directive pointing to your RSL license file: 
License: https://yourdomain.com/license.xml

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Step 1: Locate Your robots.txt File

Your robots.txt file must be at the root of your domain: 
https://yourdomain.com/robots.txt
If you already have a robots.txt file: Open it for editing—you’ll add a new line to existing content. If you don’t have a robots.txt file: Create a new text file named exactly robots.txt (lowercase) in your website’s root directory.

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Step 2: Add the License Directive

Add the following line at the top of your file, before any User-agent: directives: 
License: https://yourdomain.com/license.xml

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Example: Complete robots.txt

License: https://yourdomain.com/license.xml

User-agent: *
Allow: /

Sitemap: https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

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Requirements

  • Use a fully qualified URL (include https://)
  • Place it at the top of the file, before any User-agent: lines
  • No URL encoding needed

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Step 3: Save and Deploy

Save your robots.txt file and deploy it to your web server. Verify:
  1. Visit https://yourdomain.com/robots.txt in your browser
  2. Confirm the License: directive appears at the top
  3. Click the license URL to verify it loads your RSL license

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You are Done!

Your license is now published and discoverable. Compliant bots will automatically find and respect your licensing terms.