diff --git a/doc/external-api/README.md b/doc/external-api/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..20015e7a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/external-api/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+# Getting started
+
+There are two ways to interface with nix: embedding it, or as a plugin. Embedding means you link one of the nix libraries in your program and use it from there, while being a plugin means you make a library that gets loaded by the nix evaluator, specified through a configuration option.
+
+# Embedding the Nix Evaluator
+
+These examples don't include error handling.
+See the [Handling errors](@ref errors) section for more information.
+
+**main.c:**
+```C
+#include <nix_api_util.h>
+#include <nix_api_expr.h>
+#include <nix_api_value.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+
+int main() {
+   nix_libexpr_init(NULL);
+
+   Store* store = nix_store_open(NULL, "dummy://", NULL);
+   State* state = nix_state_create(NULL, NULL, store); // empty nix path
+   Value *value = nix_alloc_value(NULL, state);
+
+   nix_expr_eval_from_string(NULL, state, "builtins.nixVersion", ".", value);
+   nix_value_force(NULL, state, value);
+   printf("nix version: %s\n", nix_get_string(NULL, value));
+
+   nix_gc_decref(NULL, value);
+   nix_state_free(state);
+   nix_store_unref(store);
+   return 0;
+}
+```
+ 
+**Usage:**
+```
+$ gcc main.c $(pkg-config nix-expr-c --libs --cflags) -o main
+$ ./main
+nix version 1.2.3
+```
+
+
+# Writing a Nix Plugin
+
+**plugin.c:**
+```C
+#include <nix_api_util.h>
+#include <nix_api_expr.h>
+#include <nix_api_value.h>
+ 
+void increment(State* state, int pos, Value** args, Value* v) {
+    nix_value_force(NULL, state, args[0]);
+    if (nix_get_type(NULL, args[0]) == NIX_TYPE_INT) {
+      nix_set_int(NULL, v, nix_get_int(NULL, args[0]) + 1);
+    } else {
+      nix_set_null(NULL, v);
+    }
+}
+ 
+void nix_plugin_entry() {
+  const char* args[] = {"n", NULL};
+  PrimOp *p = nix_alloc_primop(NULL, increment, 1, "increment", args, "Example nix plugin function: increments an int");
+  nix_register_primop(NULL, p);
+  nix_gc_decref(NULL, p);
+}
+```
+
+**Usage:**
+```
+$ gcc plugin.c $(pkg-config nix-expr-c --libs --cflags) -shared -o plugin.so
+$ nix --plugin-files ./plugin.so repl
+nix-repl> builtins.increment 1
+2
+```
diff --git a/doc/external-api/doxygen.cfg.in b/doc/external-api/doxygen.cfg.in
index d78188900..c9f2e4b7b 100644
--- a/doc/external-api/doxygen.cfg.in
+++ b/doc/external-api/doxygen.cfg.in
@@ -38,9 +38,10 @@ GENERATE_LATEX         = NO
 INPUT                  = \
   src/libutil/c \
   src/libexpr/c \
-  src/libstore/c
+  src/libstore/c \
+  doc/external-api/README.md
 
-FILE_PATTERNS = nix_api_*.h
+FILE_PATTERNS = nix_api_*.h *.md
 
 # The INCLUDE_PATH tag can be used to specify one or more directories that
 # contain include files that are not input files but should be processed by the
@@ -52,3 +53,5 @@ INCLUDE_PATH           = @RAPIDCHECK_HEADERS@
 EXCLUDE_PATTERNS = *_internal.h
 GENERATE_TREEVIEW = YES
 OPTIMIZE_OUTPUT_FOR_C  = YES
+
+USE_MDFILE_AS_MAINPAGE = doc/external-api/README.md