diff --git a/bin/bitbake-setup b/bin/bitbake-setup
index 69c9882f4c45..fe3b6b0e67d0 100755
--- a/bin/bitbake-setup
+++ b/bin/bitbake-setup
@@ -301,7 +301,10 @@ def setup_bitbake_build(bitbake_config, layerdir, setupdir, thisdir, update_bb_c
             f.write(bitbake_config["description"] + "\n")
 
         with open(os.path.join(build_conf_dir, "conf-notes.txt"), 'w') as f:
-            f.write("")
+            notes = bitbake_config.get("notes")
+            if isinstance(notes, list):
+                notes = "\n".join(notes)
+            f.write(notes + "\n" if notes else "")
 
     def _make_init_build_env(builddir, oeinitbuildenvdir):
         builddir = os.path.realpath(builddir)
diff --git a/doc/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-environment-setup.rst b/doc/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-environment-setup.rst
index 1252f22c823a..aa546c30b9c9 100644
--- a/doc/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-environment-setup.rst
+++ b/doc/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-environment-setup.rst
@@ -1057,6 +1057,12 @@ They contain the following sections:
       snippet. This is what is prompted during the
       :ref:`ref-bbsetup-command-init` command execution.
 
+   -  ``notes`` (*optional*): additional information written to
+      ``build/conf/conf-notes.txt`` when ``bitbake-setup`` generates the build
+      configuration from ``bb-layers``. This can be a string, or a list of
+      strings which will be written one per line. For ``oe-template``
+      configurations, this file is provided by the template.
+
    -  ``configurations``: Configurations can recursively contain as many nested
       configurations as needed. This will create more choices when running the
       :ref:`ref-bbsetup-command-init` command.
diff --git a/lib/bb/tests/setup.py b/lib/bb/tests/setup.py
index b30168ed61de..5592e81965d2 100644
--- a/lib/bb/tests/setup.py
+++ b/lib/bb/tests/setup.py
@@ -136,6 +136,10 @@ print("BBPATH is {{}}".format(os.environ["BBPATH"]))
             {
                 "name": "gadget-notemplate",
                 "description": "Gadget notemplate configuration",
+                "notes": [
+                    "Gadget notemplate notes",
+                    "Second line"
+                ],
                 "bb-layers": ["layerA","layerB/meta-layer"],
                 "oe-fragments": ["test-fragment-1"]
             },
@@ -249,6 +253,11 @@ print("BBPATH is {{}}".format(os.environ["BBPATH"]))
         else:
             with open(os.path.join(bb_conf_path, 'conf-summary.txt')) as f:
                 self.assertIn(bitbake_config["description"], f.read())
+            with open(os.path.join(bb_conf_path, 'conf-notes.txt')) as f:
+                expected_notes = bitbake_config.get("notes")
+                if isinstance(expected_notes, list):
+                    expected_notes = "\n".join(expected_notes)
+                self.assertEqual(f.read(), expected_notes + "\n" if expected_notes else "")
             with open(os.path.join(bb_conf_path, 'bblayers.conf')) as f:
                 bblayers = f.read()
                 for l in bitbake_config["bb-layers"]:
diff --git a/setup-schema/bitbake-setup.schema.json b/setup-schema/bitbake-setup.schema.json
index be8772db1b2d..99f47f73d0a6 100644
--- a/setup-schema/bitbake-setup.schema.json
+++ b/setup-schema/bitbake-setup.schema.json
@@ -41,6 +41,20 @@
                                 "type": "string",
                                 "description": "Human-readable description of the configuration"
                             },
+                            "notes": {
+                                "oneOf": [
+                                    {
+                                        "type": "string"
+                                    },
+                                    {
+                                        "type": "array",
+                                        "items": {
+                                            "type": "string"
+                                        }
+                                    }
+                                ],
+                                "description": "Extra notes that populate conf-notes.txt when bb-layers is used"
+                            },
                             "bb-layers": {
                                 "type": "array",
                                 "description": "List of BitBake layer paths to include, relative to the layers download directory",