diff --git a/tools/abiversions/.gitignore b/tools/abiversions/.gitignore
index 3e2c1ba3c68..d36db5c3ed5 100644
--- a/tools/abiversions/.gitignore
+++ b/tools/abiversions/.gitignore
@@ -2,3 +2,4 @@
 # to be checked in, and git doesn't track empty directories, hence this file.
 *
 !.gitignore
+!README.md
diff --git a/tools/abiversions/README.md b/tools/abiversions/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7d0aab6426b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/abiversions/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+The files in this directory are auto-generated by the dart-sdk-linux-be bot
+when the ABI_VERSION in tools/VERSION is incremented.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tools/upload_abi_dills.sh b/tools/upload_abi_dills.sh
index dad280a1dc5..28d362729fd 100755
--- a/tools/upload_abi_dills.sh
+++ b/tools/upload_abi_dills.sh
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@
 #   $build_dir/gen_kernel_bytecode.dill
 # This script is a no-op unless $BUILDBOT_BUILDERNAME is "dart-sdk-linux-be".
 # It's also a no-op if dill files were already uploaded today.
+#
+# If the ABI was modified, the ABI_VERSION in tools/VERSIONS should be manually
+# incremented accordingly.
 set -e
 set -x