diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..028424406
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+# Contributing to Dendrite
+
+Thank you for taking the time to contribute to Matrix!
+
+This is the repository for Dendrite, a second-generation Matrix homeserver written in Go.
+
+## Sign off
+
+We ask that everybody who contributes to this project signs off their contributions, as explained below.
+
+We follow a simple 'inbound=outbound' model for contributions: the act of submitting an 'inbound' contribution means that the contributor agrees to license their contribution under the same terms as the project's overall 'outbound' license - in our case, this is Apache Software License v2 (see [LICENSE](./LICENSE)).
+
+In order to have a concrete record that your contribution is intentional and you agree to license it under the same terms as the project's license, we've adopted the same lightweight approach used by the [Linux Kernel](https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/submitting-patches.html), [Docker](https://github.com/docker/docker/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md), and many other projects: the [Developer Certificate of Origin](https://developercertificate.org/) (DCO). This is a simple declaration that you wrote the contribution or otherwise have the right to contribute it to Matrix:
+
+```
+Developer Certificate of Origin
+Version 1.1
+
+Copyright (C) 2004, 2006 The Linux Foundation and its contributors.
+660 York Street, Suite 102,
+San Francisco, CA 94110 USA
+
+Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this
+license document, but changing it is not allowed.
+
+Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1
+
+By making a contribution to this project, I certify that:
+
+(a) The contribution was created in whole or in part by me and I
+    have the right to submit it under the open source license
+    indicated in the file; or
+
+(b) The contribution is based upon previous work that, to the best
+    of my knowledge, is covered under an appropriate open source
+    license and I have the right under that license to submit that
+    work with modifications, whether created in whole or in part
+    by me, under the same open source license (unless I am
+    permitted to submit under a different license), as indicated
+    in the file; or
+
+(c) The contribution was provided directly to me by some other
+    person who certified (a), (b) or (c) and I have not modified
+    it.
+
+(d) I understand and agree that this project and the contribution
+    are public and that a record of the contribution (including all
+    personal information I submit with it, including my sign-off) is
+    maintained indefinitely and may be redistributed consistent with
+    this project or the open source license(s) involved.
+```
+
+If you agree to this for your contribution, then all that's needed is to include the line in your commit or pull request comment:
+
+```
+Signed-off-by: Your Name <your@email.example.org>
+```
+
+Git allows you to add this signoff automatically when using the `-s` flag to `git commit`, which uses the name and email set in your `user.name` and `user.email` git configs.
\ No newline at end of file