diff --git a/documentation/ref-manual/ref-classes.xml b/documentation/ref-manual/ref-classes.xml
index 9be0d0191a..ba94df2285 100644
--- a/documentation/ref-manual/ref-classes.xml
+++ b/documentation/ref-manual/ref-classes.xml
@@ -1185,6 +1185,45 @@
     </para>
 </section>
 
+<section id='ref-classes-nativesdk'>
+    <title><filename>nativesdk.bbclass</filename></title>
+
+    <para>
+        The native SDK (<filename>nativesdk</filename>) class provides common
+        functionality for recipes that wish to build tools to run as part of
+        an SDK (i.e. tools that run on
+        <link linkend='var-SDKMACHINE'><filename>SDKMACHINE</filename></link>).
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+        You can create a recipe that builds tools that run on the SDK machine
+        a couple different ways:
+        <itemizedlist>
+            <listitem><para>Create a <filename>myrecipe-native.bb</filename>
+                that inherits the <filename>nativesdk</filename> class.
+                </para></listitem>
+            <listitem><para>Create a <filename>nativesdk</filename> variant
+                of any recipe by adding the following:
+                <literallayout class='monospaced'>
+     <link linkend='var-BBCLASSEXTEND'><filename>BBCLASSEXTEND</filename></link> = "nativesdk"
+                </literallayout>
+                Inside the recipe, use <filename>_class-nativesdk</filename> and
+                <filename>_class-target</filename> overrides to specify any
+                functionality specific to the respective SDK machine or target
+                case.</para></listitem>
+        </itemizedlist>
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+        Although applied differently, the <filename>nativesdk</filename> class
+        is used with both methods.
+        The advantage of the second method is that you do not need to have two
+        separate recipes (assuming you need both) for the SDK machine and the
+        target.
+        All common parts of the recipe are automatically shared.
+    </para>
+</section>
+
 <section id='ref-classes-pkgconfig'>
     <title>Pkg-config - <filename>pkgconfig.bbclass</filename></title>