diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 007a76e5c..77689cbd4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -125,6 +125,12 @@ More Information: [Google Cloud Platform Launch Stages][launch_stages]
 
 Contributions welcome! See the [Contributing Guide](https://github.com/googleapis/release-please/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md).
 
+Please note that this [README.md](README.md), the [samples/README.md](samples/README.md),
+and a variety of configuration files in this repository (including `.nycrc` and `tsconfig.json`)
+are generated from a central template. To edit one of these files, make an edit
+to its template in this
+[directory](https://github.com/googleapis/synthtool/tree/master/synthtool/gcp/templates/node_library).
+
 ## License
 
 Apache Version 2.0