diff --git a/docs/configuration.rst b/docs/configuration.rst
index 1702360..0839f0d 100644
--- a/docs/configuration.rst
+++ b/docs/configuration.rst
@@ -2,4 +2,71 @@ Configuration
 =============
 
 yamllint uses a set of *rules* to check sources files for problems. Each rule is
-independent from the others, and can be enabled, disabled or tweaked.
+independent from the others, and can be enabled, disabled or tweaked. All these
+settings can be gathered in a configuration file.
+
+To use a custom configuration file, either name it ``.yamllint`` in your working
+directory, or use the ``-c`` option:
+
+::
+
+ yamllint -c ~/myconfig file.yml
+
+Default configuration
+---------------------
+
+Unless told otherwise, yamllint uses its ``default`` configuration:
+
+.. literalinclude:: ../yamllint/conf/default.yml
+   :language: yaml
+
+Extending the default configuration
+-----------------------------------
+
+When writing a custom configuration file, you don't need to redefine every rule.
+Just extend the ``default`` configuration (or any already-existing configuration
+file).
+
+For instance, if you just want to disable the ``comments-indentation`` rule,
+your file could look like this:
+
+.. code-block:: yaml
+
+ # This is my first, very own configuration file for yamllint!
+ # It extends the default conf by adjusting some options.
+
+ extends: default
+
+ rules:
+   comments-indentation: disable  # don't bother me with this rule
+
+Similarly, if you want to set the ``line-length`` rule as a warning and be less
+strict on block sequences indentation:
+
+.. code-block:: yaml
+
+ extends: default
+
+ rules:
+   # 80 should be enough, but don't fail if a line is longer
+   line-length:
+     max: 80
+     level: warning
+
+   # accept both     key:
+   #                   - item
+   #
+   # and             key:
+   #                 - item
+   indentation:
+     indent-sequences: whatever
+
+Errors and warnings
+-------------------
+
+Problems detected by yamllint can be raised either as errors or as warnings.
+
+In both cases, the script will output them (with different colors when using the
+``standard`` output format), but the exit code can be different. More precisely,
+the script will exit will a failure code *only when* there is one or more
+error(s).