diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 833364a..0fe86b8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ pkg> add PkgTemplates
 
 ## Usage
 
-The simplest template requires no arguments.
+Assuming you have the relatively standard Git options `user.name`, `user.email` and `github.user` set up globally with `git config --global`, the simplest template requires no arguments:
 
 ```julia
 julia> using PkgTemplates
diff --git a/docs/src/index.md b/docs/src/index.md
index 16484dd..6935a8c 100644
--- a/docs/src/index.md
+++ b/docs/src/index.md
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ Pkg.activate(mktempdir())
 Pkg.add(PackageSpec(path=dirname(dirname(pwd()))))
 ```
 
-The simplest template requires no arguments.
+Assuming you have the relatively standard Git options `user.name`, `user.email` and `github.user` set up globally with `git config --global`, the simplest template requires no arguments:
 
 
 ```@repl usage