diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 051b0eee2e7eefcfc03ee39f757dcb9e734afdd4..ee58e19a6059795c818d1dbe1e4114ed9ddc26ae 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+<!---   THIS FILE IS AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED, DO NOT CHANGE IT BY HAND   --->
+
 stb
 ===
 
diff --git a/tools/make_readme.c b/tools/make_readme.c
index 03c90605f759dba6bce4b78c442ab3a79187a93f..224f28974fd8dd75c0d00f3cc909da84f281e761 100644
--- a/tools/make_readme.c
+++ b/tools/make_readme.c
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ int main(int argc, char  **argv)
    char **list  = stb_stringfile("README.list", &listlen);  // stb_stringfile - read file lines into malloced array of strings
 
    FILE *f = fopen("../README.md", "wb");
+
+   fprintf(f, "<!---   THIS FILE IS AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED, DO NOT CHANGE IT BY HAND   --->\n\n");
    fwrite(header, 1, hlen, f);
 
    for (i=0; i < listlen; ++i) {