---
title: "No robots.txt (lint/missing-robots)"
description: "lint/missing-robots: Without robots.txt crawlers get a 404, you can't point them at the sitemap, and there is no explicit policy for AI crawlers (GPTBot,…"
canonical: https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/lint/missing-robots
lastModified: 2026-09-16
---

# No robots.txt

`lint/missing-robots` · severity **warn** · category Lint · detected by `void lint` and `void audit`

## Why it matters

Without robots.txt crawlers get a 404, you can't point them at the sitemap, and there is no explicit policy for AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot).

## How to fix it

Add `app/robots.ts` with the sitemap URL, an explicit AI-crawler policy and a preview-environment guard.

## Example

```ts
export default function robots(): MetadataRoute.Robots {
  return { rules: [{ userAgent: '*', allow: '/' }], sitemap: 'https://example.com/sitemap.xml' }
}
```

## References

- https://nextjs.org/docs/app/api-reference/file-conventions/metadata/robots

## More lint rules

`void lint` reports 67 rules in this category. Static source checks with no browser: Tailwind v4 silent failures, Next.js 16 API traps, React render-body bugs, accessibility markup, SEO files and motion hygiene.

- `canonical-in-root-layout` Canonical URL set in the root layout — [lint/canonical-in-root-layout](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/lint/canonical-in-root-layout)
- `og-merge-drops-parent` Page `openGraph` replaces the layout's (shallow merge drops images/siteName) — [lint/og-merge-drops-parent](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/lint/og-merge-drops-parent)
- `not-found-in-suspense` `notFound()`/`redirect()` inside a component rendered under `<Suspense>` — [lint/not-found-in-suspense](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/lint/not-found-in-suspense)
- `missing-sitemap` No sitemap — [lint/missing-sitemap](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/lint/missing-sitemap)
- `missing-og-image` No Open Graph image anywhere — [lint/missing-og-image](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/lint/missing-og-image)
- `missing-icon` No favicon / app icon — [lint/missing-icon](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/lint/missing-icon)
- `missing-llms-txt` No `/llms.txt` — [lint/missing-llms-txt](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/lint/missing-llms-txt)
- `dynamic-metadata-streaming` Request-time `generateMetadata` without `htmlLimitedBots` — [lint/dynamic-metadata-streaming](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/lint/dynamic-metadata-streaming)

Detected by `void lint` and `void audit`. Explain it in a terminal: `void rules lint/missing-robots`