---
mpf: '0.7'
title: Machine Page Format (MPF) — ESFI Docs
url: https://docs.esfi.eu/standards/mpf/
mpf-url: https://docs.esfi.eu/standards/mpf/index.mpf
organization: European Strategy & Future Infrastructure
domain: docs.esfi.eu
lang: en
updated: '2026-11-03'
author: ESFI
provenance: human
source-hash: fa88eb84c1463c029841cf0a05086991df4f50d8d5c5bc43981cd4c39a166d79
toc:
  - level: 1
    text: Machine Page Format (MPF)
    id: machine-page-format-mpf
  - level: 2
    text: Status
    id: status
  - level: 2
    text: How to read this section
    id: how-to-read-this-section
  - level: 2
    text: Anatomy of an MPF file
    id: anatomy-of-an-mpf-file
  - level: 2
    text: What the declarations cover
    id: what-the-declarations-cover
  - level: 2
    text: Discovery in one paragraph
    id: discovery-in-one-paragraph
  - level: 2
    text: Declarations, not verdicts
    id: declarations-not-verdicts
  - level: 2
    text: Relationship to other standards
    id: relationship-to-other-standards
  - level: 2
    text: What MPF does not claim
    id: what-mpf-does-not-claim
  - level: 2
    text: Further
    id: further
  - level: 2
    text: On this page
    id: on-this-page
spec-origin: esfi.eu
content-origin: docs.esfi.eu
content-id: esfi:page:standards-mpf
content-parity:
  html: true
  human-visible-source: true
  hidden-sections: false
summary: One page for people. One for machines. Both declared.
index: true
confidence: confirmed
content-type: reference
companion-footer: ESFI — civilization infrastructure · https://esfi.eu
companion-contact: mailto:hermes@esfi.eu
preferred-representation: mpf
companion-scope:
  cite: true
  summarize: true
  train: true
  index: true
  relay: false
language-variants:
  en: https://docs.esfi.eu/standards/mpf/index.mpf
  fr: https://docs.esfi.eu/fr/standards/mpf/index.mpf
  nl: https://docs.esfi.eu/nl/standards/mpf/index.mpf
  de: https://docs.esfi.eu/de/standards/mpf/index.mpf
  hr: https://docs.esfi.eu/hr/standards/mpf/index.mpf
mpf-id: 22bee637d21297235ced2783838ad1ed3c18c8459970ab660559987892dce4d3
---

Language

✕

/standards/mpf/index.mpf[open file ↗](/standards/mpf/index.mpf)[spec ↗](/standards/mpf/0.7)✕

loading…

# Machine Page Format (MPF) {#machine-page-format-mpf}

**One page for people. One for machines. Both declared.**

Machine Page Format (MPF) is an open format for publishing a machine-readable companion beside an HTML page. The companion carries YAML frontmatter with the publisher’s declarations about the resource, followed by a clean Markdown body. It is generated at build time from the same HTML that people read.

MPF answers a narrow question: what must a publisher expose so that a machine can identify, discover and interpret a public page without guessing facts the publisher could have stated directly?

-   **Scope:** a machine publishing contract — identity, representation, publisher declarations and discovery, with processing scope as one part of it.
-   **Contribution:** the declared relationship between a human page and its machine representation.

The human page remains the canonical address. The MPF file is its declared parallel.

## Status {#status}

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Current version | **0.7** — [Specification 0.7](/standards/mpf/0.7) |
| Previous version | 0.6 — [Specification 0.6](/standards/mpf/0.6) |
| Reference implementation | `mpf-build` — [git.esfi.eu/esfi/mpf](https://git.esfi.eu/esfi/mpf) |
| Verified emitters | [Implementation registry](/standards/mpf/implementation-registry) |
| Version policy | [Versioning](/standards/mpf/versioning) |

The specification describes what the reference implementation actually produces. A field name does not give MPF a capability the implementation does not have.

## How to read this section {#how-to-read-this-section}

Pages in this section mark every rule with its status:

| Marker | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| **Specification 0.7** | Defined in the published specification. Conforming producers and consumers can rely on it. |
| **Reference implementation** | Behaviour of `mpf-build` that the specification text does not yet describe. Stable in practice, not yet normative. |
| **ESFI practice** | A deployment convention used on ESFI sites, outside the builder and outside the specification. Documented so others can reproduce it, not required for conformance. |

A mechanism moves from practice to the specification only through a new specification version.

## Anatomy of an MPF file {#anatomy-of-an-mpf-file}

```
index.html   →   index.mpf
about/index.html   →   about/index.mpf
```

```
---
mpf: '0.7'
title: Example page
url: https://example.org/about/
mpf-url: https://example.org/about/index.mpf
organization: Example Publisher
domain: example.org
lang: en
updated: 2026-09-21
author: Example Publisher
provenance: human
source-hash: 3f1c…
toc:
  - level: 1
    text: About
    id: about
spec-origin: example.org
content-origin: example.org
content-id: example:page:about
content-parity:
  html: true
  human-visible-source: true
  hidden-sections: false
index: true
companion-scope:
  cite: true
  summarize: true
  train: false
  index: true
  relay: false
mpf-id: 9a0b…
---

# About {#about}

Clean Markdown body of the page…

Example Publisher — https://example.org
```

The frontmatter is serialised in stable order. `mpf-id` is a SHA-256 digest of the complete document before `mpf-id` itself is inserted; `source-hash` is a SHA-256 digest of the raw source HTML. Details: [Specification 0.7](/standards/mpf/0.7).

## What the declarations cover {#what-the-declarations-cover}

| Group | Fields | What a reader learns |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Identity** | `url`, `mpf-url`, `content-id`, `lang`, `language-variants` | Which logical resource this is, where both representations live, and which files are equivalent language versions |
| **Publisher** | `organization`, `domain`, `author`, `spec-origin`, `content-origin` | Who stands behind the declarations |
| **Provenance** | `provenance`, `confidence`, `c2pa-manifest` | How the publisher describes the origin and status of the content |
| **Integrity** | `source-hash`, `mpf-id`, `signature` | Whether the pair has drifted, whether this file changed, and whether the declared publisher signed it |
| **Parity** | `content-parity` | How the machine body relates to what a person sees |
| **Processing scope** | `companion-scope` | What the publisher intends a machine to do with the content |
| **Lifecycle** | `updated`, `valid-until`, `review-after`, `supersedes`, `superseded-by` | Whether the resource is current and what it replaces |
| **Structure** | `toc`, `section`, `parent`, `related`, `summary`, `content-type` | How the page is organised and how it relates to other pages |
| **Publisher to reader** | `companion-instruction`, `companion-footer`, `companion-contact`, `preferred-representation` | The publisher’s message to the machine reader, its signature line and contact |
| **Indexing** | `index` | Whether the page appears in the site’s machine indexes |

Required fields, optional fields and generation rules: [Specification 0.7](/standards/mpf/0.7). Configuration and per-page overrides: [Implementation](/standards/mpf/implementation).

## Discovery in one paragraph {#discovery-in-one-paragraph}

A machine should find the MPF representation before it starts interpreting HTML. The builder writes `llms.txt` with an MPF section (version, specification pointer, index path) and `llms.mpf`, an MPF index of all indexed pages; every page carries its companion at the same path with `.mpf` in place of `.html` (**Specification 0.7**). ESFI sites additionally publish a DNS TXT record and a `/.well-known/mpf` declaration (**ESFI practice**). Full reference: [Publishing and discovery](/standards/mpf/publishing-and-discovery).

## Declarations, not verdicts {#declarations-not-verdicts}

Every MPF field is either generated from the source or declared by the publisher. None of them is independent verification.

-   `provenance: human` states how the publisher describes the origin. It does not prove it.
-   `confidence` states the publisher’s assessment. It is not validation.
-   `companion-scope` states intended processing. It is not a technical lock and it does not replace applicable law.
-   `source-hash` shows whether the pair has drifted. It does not establish that the content is true.
-   A signature shows that a particular key signed a particular file. It does not show that the claims inside are correct.

A consuming system should keep these distinctions in its own data model and judge each signal for what it actually establishes.

## Relationship to other standards {#relationship-to-other-standards}

MPF works alongside other efforts in the same space. It does not replace them.

| Standard | What it addresses |
| --- | --- |
| [robots.txt](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9309.html) | Crawler access preferences |
| [llms.txt](https://llmstxt.org/) | A lightweight entry point for language models; MPF extends the site’s `llms.txt` with an MPF section |
| [TDMRep](https://www.w3.org/community/tdmrep/) | A W3C Community Group protocol for expressing the EU text and data mining reservation |
| [RSL](https://rslstandard.org/) | Publisher licensing terms for AI use |
| [AIPREF (IETF)](https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/aipref/about/) | A vocabulary for AI usage preferences; work in progress at the IETF |
| [C2PA](https://c2pa.org/) | Cryptographic content provenance and credentials; an MPF file can point to a C2PA manifest with `c2pa-manifest` |

## What MPF does not claim {#what-mpf-does-not-claim}

-   **Not a truth system.** Declarations are declarations; verification requires independent evidence.
-   **Not a legal instrument.** `train: false` records a stated position, not a contract and not a lock. Its legal effect depends on applicable law.
-   **Not an enforcement mechanism.** No field is enforced by the format.
-   **Not a replacement for HTML.** The human page remains canonical.
-   **Not a gatekeeper.** Publishing and reading MPF require no ESFI service, registration or permission.

## Further {#further}

-   Why MPF exists, and the letter that started the work: [companion.esfi.eu](https://companion.esfi.eu)
-   ESFI’s position on the underlying problem: [AI-readiness](/topics/ai-readiness)
-   What _Companion_ means on ESFI’s sites: [Glossary](/glossary)

## On this page {#on-this-page}

ESFI — civilization infrastructure · https://esfi.eu