diff --git a/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md b/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
index eba690a..cb5bf18 100644
--- a/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
+++ b/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
@@ -4,4 +4,7 @@
 If this PR adds a new feature that improves compatibility with docker-compose, please add a link
 to the exact part of compose spec that the PR touches.
 
+For any user-visible change please add a release note to newsfragments directory, e.g.
+newsfragments/my_feature.feature. See newsfragments/README.md for more details.
+
 All changes require additional unit tests.
diff --git a/newsfragments/README.txt b/newsfragments/README.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..69f1e34
--- /dev/null
+++ b/newsfragments/README.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+This is the directory for news fragments used by towncrier: https://github.com/hawkowl/towncrier
+
+You create a news fragment in this directory when you make a change, and the file gets removed from
+this directory when the news is published.
+
+towncrier has a few standard types of news fragments, signified by the file extension. These are:
+
+.feature: Signifying a new feature.
+.bugfix: Signifying a bug fix.
+.doc: Signifying a documentation improvement.
+.removal: Signifying a deprecation or removal of public API.
+.change: Signifying a change of behavior
+.misc: Miscellaneous change