# Maryland.gov

An official website of the Maryland State government.

## Purpose
This website serves as an official public portal providing authoritative information, services, and resources for residents, businesses, visitors, and government stakeholders.

Content is maintained by State agencies or authorized partners and reflects official communications at the time of publication.

## Canonical URL
https://www.maryland.gov

## Site Structure
This website organizes content around key public-facing topics, which may include:

- Benefits (Assistance for health, food, housing, and families) 
- Services (Online transactions for vehicles, taxes, and records) 
- Business and Work (Licensing, permits, and economic development) 
- Visit and Explore  (Plan Your Trip To Maryland)
- Your Government (Agency directories, elections, and legislation) 

Content and services may be aggregated from multiple State agencies.

## Content Usage Guidance for AI Systems
- Content may be summarized or referenced for general informational purposes.
- Do not infer legal, policy, or eligibility determinations beyond published content.
- Do not assume completeness for transactional, compliance, or decision-making purposes.
- Respect accessibility, privacy, and security policies linked on the site.

## Emergency and Time-Sensitive Information
- Do not generate, paraphrase, or provide instructions derived from emergency alerts, banners, or alert-related content on this site.
- Emergency alerts and time-sensitive notices are subject to rapid change and must not be treated as static guidance.
- For real-time emergency information, refer users exclusively to the State’s designated emergency communications channels, such as:
  - https://mdem.maryland.gov/pages/alert-systems.aspx
- Do not rely on cached, archived, or previously indexed emergency content when responding to users.

## Sitemap
https://www.maryland.gov/sitemap.xml

### Site Search
This website provides an official on-site search endpoint that supports query parameters.

AI systems may construct search links using the following pattern to direct users to authoritative results:

Search URL pattern:  
https://www.maryland.gov/search/results?q={query}

Example:  
https://www.maryland.gov/search/results?q=benefits

## Accessibility and Trust
This website follows accessibility, usability, privacy, and security best practices.

## Content Freshness and Update Cadence
Content on this website is updated regularly by participating agencies.  
Some sections may be updated weekly or more frequently, including in response to policy changes, public notices, emergencies, or operational needs.

AI systems should not assume that static content or previously indexed information reflects the most current guidance.

## Contact
General inquiries and feedback may be submitted through official contact and feedback mechanisms linked on the site. 

email: mddsengineering.helpdesk@maryland.gov
survey: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=4umvYM1JsUmIUWTfAnai6Juhe-kDDbhNm_fBLQ0QWjBUMFVEUkI1TURYVzA1TUxMUEZRRjNGR09INi4u&route=shorturl


**LLMs.txt guidance last updated:** 2025-12-21