diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
index d86ba56a49..07990456ed 100644
--- a/MAINTAINERS
+++ b/MAINTAINERS
@@ -2175,6 +2175,7 @@ F: backends/iommufd.c
 F: include/sysemu/iommufd.h
 F: include/qemu/chardev_open.h
 F: util/chardev_open.c
+F: docs/devel/vfio-iommufd.rst
 
 vhost
 M: Michael S. Tsirkin <mst@redhat.com>
diff --git a/docs/devel/index-internals.rst b/docs/devel/index-internals.rst
index 6f81df92bc..3def4a138b 100644
--- a/docs/devel/index-internals.rst
+++ b/docs/devel/index-internals.rst
@@ -18,5 +18,6 @@ Details about QEMU's various subsystems including how to add features to them.
    s390-dasd-ipl
    tracing
    vfio-migration
+   vfio-iommufd
    writing-monitor-commands
    virtio-backends
diff --git a/docs/devel/vfio-iommufd.rst b/docs/devel/vfio-iommufd.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..59804a7f26
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/devel/vfio-iommufd.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+===============================
+IOMMUFD BACKEND usage with VFIO
+===============================
+
+(Same meaning for backend/container/BE)
+
+With the introduction of iommufd, the Linux kernel provides a generic
+interface for user space drivers to propagate their DMA mappings to kernel
+for assigned devices. While the legacy kernel interface is group-centric,
+the new iommufd interface is device-centric, relying on device fd and iommufd.
+
+To support both interfaces in the QEMU VFIO device, introduce a base container
+to abstract the common part of VFIO legacy and iommufd container. So that the
+generic VFIO code can use either container.
+
+The base container implements generic functions such as memory_listener and
+address space management whereas the derived container implements callbacks
+specific to either legacy or iommufd. Each container has its own way to setup
+secure context and dma management interface. The below diagram shows how it
+looks like with both containers.
+
+                    VFIO                           AddressSpace/Memory
+    +-------+  +----------+  +-----+  +-----+
+    |  pci  |  | platform |  |  ap |  | ccw |
+    +---+---+  +----+-----+  +--+--+  +--+--+     +----------------------+
+        |           |           |        |        |   AddressSpace       |
+        |           |           |        |        +------------+---------+
+    +---V-----------V-----------V--------V----+               /
+    |           VFIOAddressSpace              | <------------+
+    |                  |                      |  MemoryListener
+    |        VFIOContainerBase list           |
+    +-------+----------------------------+----+
+            |                            |
+            |                            |
+    +-------V------+            +--------V----------+
+    |   iommufd    |            |    vfio legacy    |
+    |  container   |            |     container     |
+    +-------+------+            +--------+----------+
+            |                            |
+            | /dev/iommu                 | /dev/vfio/vfio
+            | /dev/vfio/devices/vfioX    | /dev/vfio/$group_id
+Userspace   |                            |
+============+============================+===========================
+Kernel      |  device fd                 |
+            +---------------+            | group/container fd
+            | (BIND_IOMMUFD |            | (SET_CONTAINER/SET_IOMMU)
+            |  ATTACH_IOAS) |            | device fd
+            |               |            |
+            |       +-------V------------V-----------------+
+    iommufd |       |                vfio                  |
+(map/unmap  |       +---------+--------------------+-------+
+ioas_copy)  |                 |                    | map/unmap
+            |                 |                    |
+     +------V------+    +-----V------+      +------V--------+
+     | iommfd core |    |  device    |      |  vfio iommu   |
+     +-------------+    +------------+      +---------------+
+
+[Secure Context setup]
+- iommufd BE: uses device fd and iommufd to setup secure context
+              (bind_iommufd, attach_ioas)
+- vfio legacy BE: uses group fd and container fd to setup secure context
+                  (set_container, set_iommu)
+
+[Device access]
+- iommufd BE: device fd is opened through /dev/vfio/devices/vfioX
+- vfio legacy BE: device fd is retrieved from group fd ioctl
+
+[DMA Mapping flow]
+1. VFIOAddressSpace receives MemoryRegion add/del via MemoryListener
+2. VFIO populates DMA map/unmap via the container BEs
+   *) iommufd BE: uses iommufd
+   *) vfio legacy BE: uses container fd
+
+
+Example configuration
+=====================
+
+Step 1: configure the host device
+---------------------------------
+
+It's exactly same as the VFIO device with legacy VFIO container.
+
+Step 2: configure QEMU
+----------------------
+
+Interactions with the /dev/iommu are abstracted by a new
+iommufd object (compiled in with the CONFIG_IOMMUFD option).
+
+Any QEMU device (e.g. VFIO device) wishing to use /dev/iommu must be
+linked with an iommufd object. It gets a new optional property named
+iommufd which allows to pass an iommufd object. Take vfio-pci device
+for example:
+
+    -object iommufd,id=iommufd0
+    -device vfio-pci,host=0000:02:00.0,iommufd=iommufd0
+
+Note the /dev/iommu and VFIO cdev can be externally opened by a
+management layer. In such a case the fd is passed, the fd supports
+a string naming the fd or a number, for example:
+
+    -object iommufd,id=iommufd0,fd=22
+    -device vfio-pci,iommufd=iommufd0,fd=23
+
+If the fd property is not passed, the fd is opened by QEMU.
+
+If no iommufd property is passed to the vfio-pci device, iommufd is
+not used and the user gets the behavior based on the legacy VFIO
+container:
+
+    -device vfio-pci,host=0000:02:00.0
+
+Supported platform
+==================
+
+Supports X86, ARM and S390X currently.
