diff --git a/docs/AUTHORS b/docs/AUTHORS
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7e1a6f494
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/AUTHORS
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# This file lists all individuals having contributed content to the repository.
+# For how it is generated, see `docs/generate-authors.sh`.
+
+Aaron Hill <aa1ronham@gmail.com>
+Brendan Mc <Bren2010@users.noreply.github.com>
+Brian Tiger Chow <brian.holderchow@gmail.com>
+Carlos Cobo <toqueteos@gmail.com>
+Chas Leichner <chas@chas.io>
+Christian Couder <chriscool@tuxfamily.org>
+Emery Hemingway <emery@vfemail.net>
+epitron <chris@ill-logic.com>
+Ethan Buchman <ethan@coinculture.info>
+Henry <cryptix@riseup.net>
+Jeromy Johnson <jeromyj@gmail.com>
+Juan Batiz-Benet <juan@benet.ai>
+llSourcell <sirajravel@gmail.com>
+Markus Amalthea Magnuson <markus.magnuson@gmail.com>
+Matt Bell <mappum@gmail.com>
+Mildred Ki'Lya <mildred-pub.git@mildred.fr>
+Patrick Connolly <patrick.c.connolly@gmail.com>
+Peter Borzov <tihoutrom@gmail.com>
+Quinn Slack <sqs@sourcegraph.com>
+Shanti Bouchez-Mongardé <shanti-pub.git@mildred.fr>
+Simon Kirkby <tigger@interthingy.com>
+Siraj Ravel <llSourcell@gmail.com>
+verokarhu <andreas.metsala@gmail.com>
diff --git a/docs/generate-authors.sh b/docs/generate-authors.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..75b33b7e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/generate-authors.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -e
+
+# see also ".mailmap" for how email addresses and names are deduplicated
+
+
+cat >AUTHORS <<-'EOF'
+# This file lists all individuals having contributed content to the repository.
+# For how it is generated, see `docs/generate-authors.sh`.
+
+EOF
+git log --format='%aN <%aE>' | LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 sort -uf >>AUTHORS