diff --git a/.github/CODEOWNERS b/.github/CODEOWNERS
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8da51487c84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/CODEOWNERS
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# ensure the API police is aware of changes to the vscode-dts file
+# this is only about the final API, not about proposed API changes
+src/vscode-dts/vscode.d.ts @jrieken @mjbvz