diff --git a/rust/release_crates/google_protobuf_codegen/Cargo-template.toml b/rust/release_crates/google_protobuf_codegen/Cargo-template.toml
index 825baa4668401..8725a0587f5de 100644
--- a/rust/release_crates/google_protobuf_codegen/Cargo-template.toml
+++ b/rust/release_crates/google_protobuf_codegen/Cargo-template.toml
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "google-protobuf-codegen"
+readme = "README.md"
 version = "{PROTOBUF_RUST_VERSION}"
 edition = "2021"
 license = "BSD-3-Clause"
diff --git a/rust/release_crates/google_protobuf_codegen/README.md b/rust/release_crates/google_protobuf_codegen/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..3935379487119
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rust/release_crates/google_protobuf_codegen/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+The build time dependency crate for generating code for the official Google Rust
+Protobuf implementation.
+
+The code generated by this is expected to be used in conjunction with the
+official [Protobuf crate](http://crates.io/crates/protobuf) or [Google Protobuf crate](http://crates.io/crates/google-protobuf).
+
+This is currently a beta release: the API is subject to change,
+and there may be some rough edges, including missing documentation and features.
+
+This crate is a shallow wrapper around the `protobuf_codegen` crate that it reexports.
+
+# How to get a compatible version of protoc
+
+The protoc binary that you use to generate code needs to have a version that
+exactly matches the version of the protobuf crate you are using. More
+specifically, if you are using Rust protobuf `x.y.z` then you need to use protoc
+`y.z`. See [here](https://protobuf.dev/support/version-support/) for more
+details on our versioning scheme.
+
+The easiest way to get ahold of protoc is to download a prebuilt binary from the
+matching release [here](https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases).
+Just make sure protoc is on your `$PATH` when you run `cargo`.