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Level 3 / MethodHow the public files fail, and what true looks like.
The technical path. Each article starts with the answer, then the method: what the file is for, how it goes stale, what a correct one looks like, and exactly how Flowpane checks it.
The files
One article per artefact.
Ordered by their weight in the site score, because that is roughly the order in which they cost you.
A sitemap is a public claim about your URL set. Flowpane tests that claim against the live file, a crawl of the site and what Search Console accepted.
Readrobots.txt tells crawlers which paths they may fetch. One stray line can hide a whole site, so Flowpane checks it against RFC 9309 on every run.
Readsecurity.txt tells researchers where to report a vulnerability. RFC 9116 requires a Contact and an Expires date, and an expired file scores 0.
ReadAnyone can see which trackers and consent tools a homepage loads before a visitor clicks. Flowpane records that evidence. It is not a legal assessment.
Readads.txt lists the advertising systems authorised to sell a site's inventory. Seller lines rot as ad stacks change, so Flowpane checks each record.
Readllms.txt gives language models a curated Markdown map of your best pages. It is only useful while every link is current and reachable by AI crawlers.
Readai.txt declares how you want AI systems to use your content. It states preferences without enforcing them, and must agree with what robots.txt says.
Readhumans.txt credits the people behind a site. It is tiny and optional, yet a current, dated file is a clear public sign that someone still owns the site.
ReadMethod
How Flowpane reaches its conclusions.
The cross-cutting parts: how files are compared with each other, how the crawler identifies itself, and how a score is built.
Every article is also plain Markdown.
Add .md to any URL on this site for the same claims without the page chrome. Agents can start from /llms.txt.
Read at your depth
You are on level three.
The deepest level. Go back up for the same ideas framed by situation or by value.
Why it matters
Value
What changes when these files are true, and what it costs when they rot.
Where it applies
Context
The same job in your situation: your own sites, client portfolios, or an institution.
How it works
Method
Each file, how it fails in public, what true looks like, and exactly how it is checked.
Run these checks on your own site.
Add an origin and get a score, the gaps, and the evidence behind each one. Then Flowpane keeps checking, so the answer stays current.
Free during the beta. Flowpane only reads your origin.