diff --git a/docs/configuration.rst b/docs/configuration.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..5883a2d17e6d99ba5c34e0a6693e7a8537b34942
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+++ b/docs/configuration.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+Instance configuration
+======================
+
+General configuration is achieved using two type of settings.
+
+Environment variables
+---------------------
+
+Those are located in your ``.env`` file, which you should have created
+during installation.
+
+Options from this file are heavily commented, and usually target lower level
+and technical aspects of your instance, such as database credentials.
+
+.. note::
+
+    You should restart all funwhale processes when you change the values
+    on environment variables.
+
+
+Instance settings
+-----------------
+
+Those settings are stored in database and do not require a restart of your
+instance after modification. They typically relate to higher level configuration,
+such your instance description, signup policy and so on.
+
+There is no polished interface for those settings, yet, but you can view update
+them using the administration interface provided by Django (the framework funkwhale is built on).
+
+The URL should be ``/api/admin/dynamic_preferences/globalpreferencemodel/`` (prepend your domain in front of it, of course).
+
+If you plan to use acoustid and external imports
+(e.g. with the youtube backends), you should edit the corresponding
+settings in this interface.
diff --git a/docs/index.rst b/docs/index.rst
index ca6504b52ba6293f7a88947c8d7073740d3d590f..17e9fe7f0b699cc427c71cac4597708b5a311e31 100644
--- a/docs/index.rst
+++ b/docs/index.rst
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ Funkwhale is a self-hosted, modern free and open-source music server, heavily in
 
    features
    installation/index
+   configuration
    importing-music
    changelog