diff --git a/GUIDELINES.md b/GUIDELINES.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..181a949
--- /dev/null
+++ b/GUIDELINES.md
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# Project Guidelines
+
+## Core principles
+
+1. We strive to create an API that is easy & intuitive to use, helps users avoid making mistakes, and exposes 95%+ power of regular expressions.
+2. We strive to balance replicating the [Swift Regex Builder API](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/regexbuilder) and creating an API native to TypeScript/JavaScript users.
+3. We should adjust our API where there are discrepancies between Swift and JavaScript regex behavior.
+
+## Implementation guidelines
+
+1. When the user passes the text to any regex component, it should be treated as an exact string to match and not as a regex string. We might provide an escape hatch for providing raw regex string through, but the user should use it explicitly.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0ed2c5a..b45f66a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ const regex = buildRegex(oneOrMore('Hello '), 'World');
 
 See the [contributing guide](CONTRIBUTING.md) to learn how to contribute to the repository and the development workflow.
 
+See the [project guidelines](GUIDELINES.md) to understand our core principles.
+
 ## License
 
 MIT