diff --git a/readme.rst b/readme.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..153cfd0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/readme.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+Documentation Guide
+===================
+
+Writing Documentation
+---------------------
+
+Docs are generated using `Sphinx <https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/>`_.
+
+Documentation is written in `reStructuredText
+<https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/restructuredtext/>`_.
+
+In reStructuredText documents, to create the section hierarchy (mapped in HTML
+to ``<h1>`` through ``<h5>``) use these characters to underline headings in the
+order given: ``=``, ``-`` ``"``, ``'``, ``^``.
+
+Building the Docs
+------------------
+
+The documentation build process is stored in the ``Makefile``. Building docs
+requires Python to be installed, and most steps will create a virtualenv
+(``venv_docs``) which contains the required tools.  You may also need to
+install the ``enchant`` C library using your system's package manager for the
+spelling checker to function properly.
+
+Run ``make html`` to generate html documentation in ``_build/html``.
+
+To check the formatting of documentation, run ``make lint``. This will be done
+in Jenkins to validate the documentation, so please do this before you create a
+patchset.
+
+To check spelling, run ``make spelling``. If there are additional words that
+are correctly spelled but not in the dictionary (acronyms, trademarks, etc.)
+please add them to the ``dict.txt`` file.
+
+Creating new Versions of Docs
+-----------------------------
+
+To change the version shown on the built site, change the contents of the
+``VERSION`` file.
+
+There is a ``make multiversion`` target which will build all versions published
+on the remote to ``_build``. This will use a fork of `sphinx-multiversion
+<https://github.com/Holzhaus/sphinx-multiversion>`_ to build multiple versions
+for the site.
+
+Creating Graphs and Diagrams
+----------------------------
+
+Multiple tools are available to render inline text-based graphs definitions and
+diagrams within the documentation. This is preferred over images as it's easier
+to change and see changes over time as a diff.
+
+`Graphviz
+<https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/extensions/graphviz.html>`_
+supports many standard graph types.
+
+The `blockdiag <http://blockdiag.com/en/blockdiag/sphinxcontrib.html>`_,
+`nwdiag, and rackdiag <http://blockdiag.com/en/nwdiag/sphinxcontrib.html>`_,
+and `seqdiag <http://blockdiag.com/en/seqdiag/sphinxcontrib.html>`_ suites of
+tools can be used to create specific types of diagrams:
+
+- `blockdiag examples <http://blockdiag.com/en/blockdiag/examples.html>`_
+- `nwdiag examples <http://blockdiag.com/en/nwdiag/nwdiag-examples.html>`_
+- `rackdiag examples <http://blockdiag.com/en/nwdiag/rackdiag-examples.html>`_
+- `seqdiag examples <http://blockdiag.com/en/seqdiag/examples.html>`_
+
+The styles applied to nodes and connections in these diagrams can be customized
+using `attributes
+<http://blockdiag.com/en/blockdiag/attributes/node.attributes.html>`_.