diff --git a/opencloud/images/.gitignore b/opencloud/images/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6949d1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/opencloud/images/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+*.img
+*.qcow2
+*.qcow
diff --git a/opencloud/images/README.md b/opencloud/images/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aca55a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/opencloud/images/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# VM images for XOS
+
+Any Cloud image files placed in this directory (with suffix .img) will be automatically
+imported by XOS and added to Glance (OpenStack's image repository).  For instance, the image
+`trusty-server-multi-nic.img` will be imported with name `trusty-server-multi-nic`.