diff --git a/docs/html/development/architecture/configuration-files.rst b/docs/html/development/architecture/configuration-files.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ce0ef40ee27
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/html/development/architecture/configuration-files.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,150 @@
+===========================
+Configuration File Handling
+===========================
+
+The ``pip._internal.configuration`` module is responsible for handling
+(eg. loading from and saving values to) configuration files that are used by
+pip. The module's functionality is largely exposed through and coordinated by
+the module's ``Configuration`` class.
+
+.. note::
+
+    This section of the documentation is currently being written. pip
+    developers welcome your help to complete this documentation. If you're
+    interested in helping out, please let us know in the
+    `tracking issue <https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/6831>`_.
+
+
+.. _configuration-overview:
+
+Overview
+========
+
+pip stores configuration files in standard OS-appropriate locations, which are
+determined by ``appdirs``. These files are in the INI format and are processed
+with ``RawConfigParser``.
+
+pip uses configuration files in two operations:
+
+* During processing of command line options.
+
+  * Reading from *all* configuration sources
+
+* As part of ``pip config`` command.
+
+  * Reading from *all* configuration sources
+  * Manipulating a single configuration file
+
+Both of these operations utilize functionality provided the ``Configuration``
+object, which encapsulates all the logic for handling configuration files and
+provides APIs for the same.
+
+The remainder of this section documents the ``Configuration`` class, and
+discusses potential future refactoring ideas.
+
+
+.. _configuration-class:
+
+``Configuration`` class
+=======================
+
+``Configuration`` loads configuration values from sources in the local
+environment: a combination of configuration files and environment variables.
+
+It can be used in two "modes", for reading all the values from the local
+environment and for manipulating a single configuration file. It differentiates
+between these two modes using the ``load_only`` attribute, which can be None or
+represent the :ref:`kind <config-kinds>` of the configuration file to be
+manipulated.
+
+The ``isolated`` attribute determines which sources are used when loading the
+configuration. If ``isolated`` is ``True``, user-specific configuration files
+and environment variables are not used.
+
+Reading from local environment
+------------------------------
+
+``Configuration`` can be used to read from all configuration sources in the
+local environment and access the values, as per the precedence logic described
+in the :ref:`Config Precedence <config-precedence>` section.
+
+For this use case, the ``Configuration.load_only`` attribute would be ``None``,
+and the methods used would be:
+
+.. py:class:: Configuration
+
+  .. py:method:: load()
+
+    Handles all the interactions with the environment, to load all the
+    configuration data into objects in memory.
+
+  .. py:method:: items()
+
+    Provides key-value pairs (like ``dict.items()``) from the loaded-in-memory
+    information, handling all of the override ordering logic.
+
+  .. py:method:: get_value(key)
+
+    Provides the value of the given key from the loaded configuration.
+    The loaded configuration may have ``load_only`` be None or non-None.
+    This uses the same underlying mechanism as ``Configuration.items()`` and
+    does follow the precedence logic described in :ref:`Config Precedence
+    <config-precedence>`.
+
+At the time of writing, the parts of the codebase that use ``Configuration``
+in this manner are: ``ConfigOptionParser``, to transparently include
+configuration handling as part of the command line processing logic,
+and ``pip config get``, for printing the entire configuration when no
+:ref:`kind <config-kinds>` is specified via the CLI.
+
+Manipulating a single configuration file
+----------------------------------------
+
+``Configuration`` can be used to manipulate a single configuration file,
+such as to add, change or remove certain key-value pairs.
+
+For this use case, the ``load_only`` attribute would be non-None, and would
+represent the :ref:`kind <config-kinds>` of the configuration file to be
+manipulated. In addition to the methods discussed in the previous section,
+the methods used would be:
+
+.. py:class:: Configuration
+
+  .. py:method:: get_file_to_edit()
+
+    Provides the "highest priority" file, for the :ref:`kind <config-kinds>` of
+    configuration file specified by ``load_only``. This requires ``load_only``
+    to be non-None.
+
+  .. py:method:: set_value(key, value)
+
+    Provides a way to add/change a single key-value pair, in the file specified
+    by ``Configuration.get_file_to_edit()``.
+
+  .. py:method:: unset_value(key)
+
+    Provides a way to remove a single key-value pair, in the file specified
+    by ``Configuration.get_file_to_edit()``.
+
+  .. py:method:: save()
+
+    Saves the in-memory state of to the original files, saving any modifications
+    made to the ``Configuration`` object back into the local environment.
+
+.. _config-kinds:
+
+kinds
+=====
+
+This is an enumeration that provides values to represent a "source" for
+configuration. This includes environment variables and various types of
+configuration files (global, site-specific, user_specific, specified via
+``PIP_CONFIG_FILE``).
+
+Future Refactoring Ideas
+========================
+
+* Break up the ``Configuration`` class into 2 smaller classes, by use case
+    * ``Command`` use-case (read only) -- ``ConfigurationReader``
+    * ``pip config`` use-case (read / write) -- ``ConfigurationModifier`` (inherit from ``ConfigurationReader``)
+* Eagerly populate ``Configuration._dictionary`` on load.
diff --git a/docs/html/development/architecture/index.rst b/docs/html/development/architecture/index.rst
index 094adeede1d..9c1eaa7cf57 100644
--- a/docs/html/development/architecture/index.rst
+++ b/docs/html/development/architecture/index.rst
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ Architecture of pip's internals
 
     overview
     anatomy
+    configuration-files
     package-finding
     upgrade-options
 
diff --git a/docs/html/user_guide.rst b/docs/html/user_guide.rst
index bc843627380..ae8b295bc7e 100644
--- a/docs/html/user_guide.rst
+++ b/docs/html/user_guide.rst
@@ -484,6 +484,8 @@ is the same as calling::
    Please use ``no``, ``false`` or ``0`` instead.
 
 
+.. _config-precedence:
+
 Config Precedence
 -----------------