diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..56a478c393d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+Low Level Virtual Machine (LLVM)
+================================
+
+This directory and its subdirectories contain source code for LLVM,
+a toolkit for the construction of highly optimized compilers, optimizers, and runtime environments.
+
+LLVM is open source software. You may freely distribute it under the terms of the license agreement found in LICENSE.txt.
+
+Please see the documentation provided in docs/ for further assistance with LLVM, and in particular docs/GettingStarted.rst for getting started with LLVM and docs/README.txt for an overview of LLVM's documentation setup.
+
+If you're writing a package for LLVM, see [docs/Packaging.rst](docs/Packaging.rst) for our suggestions.