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Overview

The RSL Editor is a visual interface for creating Really Simply Licensing (RSL) files that define how bots and AI agents can access your content. Instead of writing XML by hand, you use the editor to:
  1. Define Content: Specify which parts of your site require licensing (URL patterns)
  2. Set License Terms: Configure permissions, restrictions, pricing, and legal terms
  3. Generate license.xml: The editor creates valid RSL XML automatically
  4. Publish: Deploy your license file to make it discoverable by bots
This guide walks you through the editor interface and shows you how to create your first license.

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Accessing the RSL Editor

1

Navigate to Your Website

Within the merchant portal, go to Websites and click on the website you want to configure.
2

Open the RSL Editor

In the website details view, click RSL Editor.This opens the editor interface where you’ll define your licensing terms.

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Editor Layout

The RSL Editor has three main areas: RSL Editor interface overview

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Left Sidebar: URL Patterns (Content)

Lists all Content definitions for this Website. Each entry represents a different section of your site that can have its own licensing terms. Example:
  • https://example.com/* (entire site)
  • https://example.com/news (just news section)
  • https://example.com/sports (just sports section)

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Center Panel: License Configuration

The main editing area where you configure:
  • Copyright & Terms: Copyright holder information and terms of service
  • Licenses: Individual licenses with specific permissions and restrictions

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Right Panel: Generated XML

Shows the RSL XML code that’s generated from your configuration in real-time. This is what gets saved as your license.xml file.

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Step 1: Define Your Content (URL Patterns)

First, you need to specify which parts of your site require licensing.

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Adding a URL Pattern

Adding URL patterns in the RSL Editor
1

Click '+ Add URL Pattern'

In the left sidebar, click the + Add URL Pattern button.
2

Enter the URL

Specify the content you want to license using URL patterns:Full URL patterns:
  • https://example.com/articles/* - All articles
  • https://example.com/news - Just the news page
  • https://example.com/sports - Just the sports page
Wildcard Rules:
  • * matches any sequence of characters
  • $ matches the end of a path
  • /articles/* matches /articles/2024/story and /articles/tech
  • /articles/$ matches only /articles (exact match)
3

Click 'Add'

The URL pattern appears in the left sidebar. You can add multiple patterns for different sections of your site.
This section identifies who owns the content and where to find additional terms. Copyright & Terms section in RSL Editor Holder Type:
  • Person: For individual content creators
  • Organization: For companies, publishers, or institutions
Contact Email: Email address for licensing inquiries.
Example: licensing@yourdomain.com Contact URL: Link to your contact page or form.
Example: https://yourdomain.com/contact

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Terms

License terms URL: Link to a page with detailed legal terms and conditions.
Example: https://yourdomain.com/licensing-terms

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Step 3: Create a License

Now you’ll define the actual licensing terms. Each URL pattern (Content) can have one or more Licenses with different terms for different use cases.

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Adding a License

1

Click '+ Add License'

Below the Copyright & Terms section, click + Add License.A new License section appears with three tabs: Permits, Prohibits, and Legal.
2

Expand the License

Click on License 1 to expand it and configure the terms.
Each license has three configurable sections:

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Permits Tab: What’s Allowed

Permits tab showing permitted uses, users, and geographic restrictions Define what bots are allowed to do with your content.

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Permitted Uses

Select which types of automated processing are allowed:
Allows all types of bot access, including AI training, search indexing, and generative AI use.Use this if: You want maximum bot access (most permissive).
Allows content to be used for training ai models.Use this if: You want to allow AI companies to train models on your content.
Allows content to be used as context for generating AI responses.Use this if: You want AI assistants to reference your content when answering questions.
Allows content to be indexed and used in AI-powered search engines.Use this if: You want AI search engines (Perplexity, SearchGPT) to include your content.
You can select multiple permitted uses. For example, allow search indexing but prohibit AI training.

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Permitted Users

Specify which types of users/organizations can use your content:
  • Commercial use: For-profit companies and commercial applications
  • Non-commercial use: Non-profit organizations, research, personal projects
  • Education: Schools, universities, educational institutions
  • Government: Government agencies and public sector
  • Personal use: Individual personal use only

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Geo (Geographic Restrictions)

Optionally restrict which countries can access your content:
  • Leave blank: Available worldwide
  • Select specific countries: Only accessible from those countries (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes like US, EU, JP)

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Prohibits Tab: What’s NOT Allowed

Prohibits tab for explicitly denying specific uses Explicitly deny specific uses even if they might otherwise be permitted. Why use Prohibits?
  • To carve out exceptions from broad permissions
  • To make restrictions explicit and clear
  • To address specific concerns about how your content is used
Example scenarios: Allow search but prohibit AI training:
  • Permits: “Input for AI search results”
  • Prohibits: “Training or fine-tuning AI models”
Block specific countries:
  • Permits: All uses
  • Prohibits (Geo): Select countries to block
Legal tab for warranties and disclaimers

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License Warranties

What warranties do you make in regards to content covered by the license? Check all that apply

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License Disclaimers

Select disclaimers to limit your liability

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Step 4: Review Generated XML

As you configure your license, the right panel shows the generated RSL XML in real-time. Generated RSL XML code preview

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Step 5: Add Multiple Licenses (Optional)

You can create multiple licenses for the same content to offer different terms to different users.

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Why Multiple Licenses?

Example: Tiered Access License 1: Free Non-Commercial
  • Permits: Non-commercial use, Education, Personal use
  • Payment: Free
License 2: Paid Commercial
  • Permits: Commercial use
  • Payment: $0.01 per page view
Bots can choose which license fits their needs.

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Adding Another License

  1. Click + Add License at the bottom
  2. Configure the new license (Permits, Prohibits, Legal)
  3. The XML updates to include both licenses

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Step 6: Publish Your License

Once you’re satisfied with your license configuration, it’s time to make it available to bots.
1

Click 'Publish License'

In the top-right corner of the editor, click the Publish License button.
2

Follow Publishing Guide

The portal will guide you through publishing based on your chosen method.Your license.xml file will be made available at:
https://yourdomain.com/license.xml
If you published your License already, we will show you steps needed to refresh the cache so you get the latest version immediately.
After publishing, you still need to update your robots.txt file to point bots to your license. We’ll cover this in the next step.

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Next Steps

Now that you’ve created your RSL license, the next step is to publish it so bots can discover and respect your terms.

Publishing Your License

Learn about automated and manual methods for making your license.xml file available at your domain.

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What Happens Next?

After creating your license, you’ll:
  1. Publish the license.xml file (next step)
    Make it available at https://yourdomain.com/license.xml
  2. Update robots.txt
    Add a License directive so bots can discover your terms
Ready to publish? Continue to Publishing Your License Overview →

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Additional Resources