What is ads.txt

ads.txt helps buyers verify they're purchasing legitimate ad inventory. Publishers list every authorised seller in a plain text file.

Each seller record has three required comma-separated fields and an optional certification-authority ID: exchange.com, pub-id, DIRECT|RESELLER[, cert-id]. ads.txt 1.1 variables and extensions may also appear.

If the publisher authoritatively declares that no advertising system is authorised, ads.txt 1.1 defines placeholder.example, placeholder, DIRECT, placeholder as the no-seller placeholder. A blank file is not that declaration. Flowpane preserves authored records and variables, validates syntax and detects duplicates/conflicts, but does not invent seller IDs, choose business truth, query sellers.json or prove external seller authority.