diff --git a/tools/README.md b/tools/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5db8bcd4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+The contents of this directory moved to https://github.com/googlefonts/tools/
diff --git a/tools/encodings/GF Glyph Sets/README.md b/tools/encodings/GF Glyph Sets/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d8f175f97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/encodings/GF Glyph Sets/README.md	
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+The contents of this directory moved to https://github.com/googlefonts/tools/tree/master/encodings/GF%20Glyph%20Sets
diff --git a/tools/encodings/README.md b/tools/encodings/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..832a84a8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/encodings/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+The contents of this directory moved to https://github.com/googlefonts/tools/tree/master/encodings