diff --git a/HACKING b/HACKING
index 2f364c894..f131e04a1 100644
--- a/HACKING
+++ b/HACKING
@@ -73,3 +73,43 @@ Docstrings
   :returns: description of the return value
 
   """
+
+Text encoding
+----------
+- All text within python code should be of type 'unicode'.
+
+    WRONG:
+
+    >>> s = 'foo'
+    >>> s
+    'foo'
+    >>> type(s)
+    <type 'str'>
+
+    RIGHT:
+
+    >>> u = u'foo'
+    >>> u
+    u'foo'
+    >>> type(u)
+    <type 'unicode'>
+
+- Transitions between internal unicode and external strings should always
+  be immediately and explicitly encoded or decoded.
+
+- All external text that is not explicitly encoded (database storage,
+  commandline arguments, etc.) should be presumed to be encoded as utf-8.
+
+    WRONG:
+
+    mystring = infile.readline()
+    myreturnstring = do_some_magic_with(mystring)
+    outfile.write(myreturnstring)
+
+    RIGHT:
+
+    mystring = infile.readline()
+    mytext = s.decode('utf-8')
+    returntext = do_some_magic_with(mytext)
+    returnstring = returntext.encode('utf-8')
+    outfile.write(returnstring)