diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..b72967ae54386bb12145a357c6cda0a7df42f791
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# Contributing to Spack
+
+Before contributing to Spack you should read the
+[Contribution Guide](https://spack.readthedocs.io/en/latest/contribution_guide.html),
+which is maintained as part of Spack's documentation.