diff --git a/docs/getting-started/development-environment.md b/docs/getting-started/development-environment.md
index 154a959f85..aa9aa0bde1 100644
--- a/docs/getting-started/development-environment.md
+++ b/docs/getting-started/development-environment.md
@@ -88,3 +88,17 @@ yarn create-plugin # Create a new plugin
 > See
 > [package.json](https://github.com/spotify/backstage/blob/master/package.json)
 > for other yarn commands/options.
+
+## Local configuration
+
+Backstage allows you to specify the configuration used while running the
+application on your computer. Local configuration is read from
+`app-config.local.yaml`. This file is ignored by Git, which means that you can
+safely use it to reference secrets like GitHub tokens without worrying about
+these secrets, inadvertently ending up in the Git repository. You do not need to
+copy everything from the default config to the local config.
+`app-config.local.yaml` will be merged with `app-config.yaml` and overwrite the
+default app configs.
+
+You can learn more about the local configuration in
+[Static Configuration in Backstage](../conf/) section.