diff --git a/grammar.md b/grammar.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..15b2e3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/grammar.md
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+justfile grammar
+----------------
+
+The justfiles are processed with a mildly context-sensitive
+tokenizer and a recursive descent parser. The grammar is mostly LL(1),
+altough an extra token of lookahead is used to distinguish between
+export assignments and recipes with arguments.
+
+tokens
+======
+
+```
+BACKTICK            = `[^`\n\r]*`
+COLON               = :
+COMMENT             = #([^!].*)?$
+EOL                 = \n|\r\n
+EQUALS              = =
+INTERPOLATION_START = {{
+INTERPOLATION_END   = }}
+NAME                = [a-zA-Z_-][a-zA-Z0-9_-]*
+PLUS                = +
+RAW_STRING          = '[^'\r\n]*'
+STRING              = "[^"]*" # also processes \n \r \t \" \\ escapes
+INDENT              = emitted when indentation increases
+DEDENT              = emitted when indentation decreases
+LINE                = emitted before a recipe line
+TEXT                = recipe text, only matches in a recipe body
+```
+
+grammar
+=======
+
+```
+justfile      : item* EOF
+
+item          : recipe
+              | assignment
+              | export
+              | EOL
+
+assignment    : NAME EQUALS expression EOL
+
+export        : 'export' assignment
+
+expression    : STRING
+              | RAW_STRING
+              | NAME
+              | expression '+' expression
+
+recipe        : NAME arguments? ':' dependencies? body?
+
+arguments     : NAME+
+
+dependencies  : NAME+
+
+body          : INDENT line+ DEDENT
+
+line          : LINE (TEXT | interpolation)+ EOL
+
+interpolation : '{{' expression '}}'
+```