Source precedence
Not all public files on better-robots.com have the same authority.
Why this matters
A system can read many files and still answer badly if it weights them in the wrong order.
The rule is simple: higher-priority surfaces constrain lower-priority summaries.
Level 1 — canonical routing and hard constraints
Use these first:
/.well-known/ai-governance.json/.well-known/interpretation-policy.json/.well-known/response-legitimacy.json/.well-known/anti-plausibility.json/.well-known/output-constraints.json/.well-known/qlayer.json
These files define the canonical routing, legitimacy threshold, anti-plausibility discipline, and hard output rules.
Level 2 — public routing, identity, and guidance
Use these next:
/ai-manifest.json/llms.txt/llms-full.txt/llm-policy.json/llm-guidelines.md/dualweb-index.md/readme.llm.txt/ssa-e-authority-index.md/humans.txt/author.md/links.json
These files expand the public routing layer, identity, compressed summaries, and explanatory guidance.
Important: /ai-manifest.json is a level-2 router. It does not replace the level-1 canonical governance cluster.
When the ambiguity is not local but cross-site, use the distributed authority map on Gautier Dorval only to clarify role allocation across surfaces. It does not override Better Robots.txt local product facts.
Level 3 — verification and boundary context
Use these only to refine, never to overrule:
- site context
- plugin context
- scope files
- mode and preset behavior files
- WooCommerce, archive, and bot-specific context files
- limitations, non-goals, and common misinterpretations
- graph and dataset support files
This level exists to narrow interpretation, not widen it.
Level 4 — narrative pages
Marketing and documentation pages remain useful, but they never override the machine-first governance layer.
That includes:
- product pages
- pricing pages
- examples
- pattern pages
- blog posts
Safe reading pattern
- Read level 1.
- Read level 2.
- Pull level 3 only when you need more boundary detail.
- Use level 4 for explanation, never for overriding higher-priority constraints.
If sources appear to conflict
- prefer the narrower higher-priority interpretation
- preserve explicit caveats over broad summaries
- preserve documented limits over optimistic examples
- preserve runtime uncertainty over generalized claims