diff --git a/docs/gcloud-auth.rst b/docs/gcloud-auth.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..ecd0f7b25c4a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/gcloud-auth.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+Authentication
+--------------
+
+Quick overview
+==============
+
+*   **If you're running in Compute Engine or App Engine**,
+    authentication should "just work".
+
+*   **If you're developing locally**,
+    the easiest way to authenticate is using the `Google Cloud SDK`_:
+
+    .. code-block:: bash
+
+        $ gcloud auth login
+
+.. _Google Cloud SDK: http://cloud.google.com/sdk
+
+
+*   **If you're running your application elsewhere**,
+    you should download a service account JSON keyfile
+    and point to it using an environment variable:
+
+    .. code-block:: bash
+
+        $ export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS="/path/to/keyfile.json"
diff --git a/docs/index.rst b/docs/index.rst
index 6c27b1eb1318..31c8fc80a566 100644
--- a/docs/index.rst
+++ b/docs/index.rst
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
   :caption: gcloud
 
   gcloud-api
+  gcloud-auth
 
 .. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 0