diff --git a/packages/autoupdate/README.md b/packages/autoupdate/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b1c634a92a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/autoupdate/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# autoupdate
+
+This package is the heart of Meteor's Hot Code Push functionality. It
+has a client component and a server component component. The client
+component uses a DDP API provided by the server to subscribe to the
+version ID of the most recent build of the app's client. When it sees
+that a new version is available, it uses the
+[reload](https://atmospherejs.com/meteor/reload) package to gracefully
+save the app's state and reload it in place.
+
+`autoupdate` is part of the [Webapp](https://www.meteor.com/webapp)
+project.
diff --git a/packages/reload/README.md b/packages/reload/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c8d6e6f4f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/reload/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+# reload
+
+The `reload` package handles the process of *migrating* an app:
+serializing the app's state, then shutting down and restarting the app
+(for example, to load updated client code or to move the client
+session from one JavaScript virtual machine to another), and finally
+restoring its state.
+
+Packages that want to participate in the migration process register
+with `reload`. They can make the migration process wait until they are
+ready and include whatever state they may possess in the serialization
+and deserialization process.
+
+`reload` is part of the [Webapp](https://www.meteor.com/webapp) project.
diff --git a/packages/webapp-hashing/README.md b/packages/webapp-hashing/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..377be035c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/webapp-hashing/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# webapp-hashing
+
+This package knows how to hash together all of the elements in a
+client resource manifest to produce a build ID that can be used to
+determine if a client has the latest code, or if it needs to be
+updated. It is used internally by
+[webapp](https://atmospherejs.com/meteor/webapp).
diff --git a/packages/webapp/README.md b/packages/webapp/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f21db1ccde
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/webapp/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# webapp
+
+The `webapp` package contains the core functionality that makes a
+Meteor project into a web application. It is a "value added HTTP
+server" that includes not just a web server, but also advanced app
+serving functionality like over-the-air mobile app updates and HTML5
+Appcache support. For more information, see the [Webapp project
+page](https://www.meteor.com/webapp).