diff --git a/django_setup_configuration/base.py b/django_setup_configuration/base.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c716ad8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/django_setup_configuration/base.py
@@ -0,0 +1,166 @@
+from dataclasses import dataclass, field
+from typing import Iterator, Mapping, Sequence
+
+from django.contrib.postgres.fields import ArrayField
+from django.db import models
+from django.db.models.fields import NOT_PROVIDED
+from django.db.models.fields.json import JSONField
+from django.db.models.fields.related import ForeignKey, OneToOneField
+
+from .constants import BasicFieldDescription
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True, slots=True)
+class ConfigField:
+    name: str
+    verbose_name: str
+    description: str
+    default_value: str
+    values: str
+
+
+@dataclass
+class Fields:
+    all: set[ConfigField] = field(default_factory=set)
+    required: set[ConfigField] = field(default_factory=set)
+
+
+class ConfigSettingsBase:
+    model: models.Model
+    display_name: str
+    namespace: str
+    required_fields = tuple()
+    all_fields = tuple()
+    excluded_fields = ("id",)
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.config_fields = Fields()
+
+        self.create_config_fields(
+            require=self.required_fields,
+            exclude=self.excluded_fields,
+            include=self.all_fields,
+            model=self.model,
+        )
+
+    @classmethod
+    def get_setting_name(cls, field: ConfigField) -> str:
+        return f"{cls.namespace}_" + field.name.upper()
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def get_default_value(field: models.Field) -> str:
+        default = field.default
+
+        if default is NOT_PROVIDED:
+            return "No default"
+
+        # needed to make `generate_config_docs` idempotent
+        # because UUID's are randomly generated
+        if isinstance(field, models.UUIDField):
+            return "random UUID string"
+
+        # if default is a function, call the function to retrieve the value;
+        # we don't immediately return because we need to check the type first
+        # and cast to another type if necessary (e.g. list is unhashable)
+        if callable(default):
+            default = default()
+
+        if isinstance(default, Mapping):
+            return str(default)
+
+        # check for field type as well to avoid splitting values from CharField
+        if isinstance(field, (JSONField, ArrayField)) and isinstance(default, Sequence):
+            try:
+                return ", ".join(str(item) for item in default)
+            except TypeError:
+                return str(default)
+
+        return default
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def get_example_values(field: models.Field) -> str:
+        # fields with choices
+        if choices := field.choices:
+            values = [choice[0] for choice in choices]
+            return ", ".join(values)
+
+        # other fields
+        field_type = field.get_internal_type()
+        match field_type:
+            case item if item in BasicFieldDescription.names:
+                return getattr(BasicFieldDescription, field_type)
+            case _:
+                return "No information available"
+
+    def get_concrete_model_fields(self, model) -> Iterator[models.Field]:
+        """
+        Get all concrete fields for a given `model`, skipping over backreferences like
+        `OneToOneRel` and fields that are blacklisted
+        """
+        return (
+            field
+            for field in model._meta.concrete_fields
+            if field.name not in self.excluded_fields
+        )
+
+    def create_config_fields(
+        self,
+        require: tuple[str, ...],
+        exclude: tuple[str, ...],
+        include: tuple[str, ...],
+        model: models.Model,
+        relating_field: models.Field | None = None,
+    ) -> None:
+        """
+        Create a `ConfigField` instance for each field of the given `model` and
+        add it to `self.fields.all` and `self.fields.required`
+
+        Basic fields (`CharField`, `IntegerField` etc) constitute the base case,
+        relations (`ForeignKey`, `OneToOneField`) are handled recursively
+        """
+
+        model_fields = self.get_concrete_model_fields(model)
+
+        for model_field in model_fields:
+            if isinstance(model_field, (ForeignKey, OneToOneField)):
+                self.create_config_fields(
+                    require=require,
+                    exclude=exclude,
+                    include=include,
+                    model=model_field.related_model,
+                    relating_field=model_field,
+                )
+            else:
+                if model_field.name in self.excluded_fields:
+                    continue
+
+                # model field name could be "api_root",
+                # but we need "xyz_service_api_root" (or similar) for consistency
+                if relating_field:
+                    name = f"{relating_field.name}_{model_field.name}"
+                else:
+                    name = model_field.name
+
+                config_field = ConfigField(
+                    name=name,
+                    verbose_name=model_field.verbose_name,
+                    description=model_field.help_text,
+                    default_value=self.get_default_value(model_field),
+                    values=self.get_example_values(model_field),
+                )
+
+                if config_field.name in self.required_fields:
+                    self.config_fields.required.add(config_field)
+
+                # if all_fields is empty, that means we're filtering by blacklist,
+                # hence the config_field is included by default
+                if not self.all_fields or config_field.name in self.all_fields:
+                    self.config_fields.all.add(config_field)
+
+    def get_required_settings(self) -> tuple[str, ...]:
+        return tuple(
+            self.get_setting_name(field) for field in self.config_fields.required
+        )
+
+    def get_config_mapping(self) -> dict[str, ConfigField]:
+        return {self.get_setting_name(field): field for field in self.config_fields.all}
diff --git a/django_setup_configuration/constants.py b/django_setup_configuration/constants.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..57c1dea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/django_setup_configuration/constants.py
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+from django.db import models
+
+
+class BasicFieldDescription(models.TextChoices):
+    """
+    Description of the values for basic Django model fields
+    """
+
+    ArrayField = "string, comma-delimited ('foo,bar,baz')"
+    BooleanField = "True, False"
+    CharField = "string"
+    FileField = (
+        "string represeting the (absolute) path to a file, "
+        "including file extension: {example}".format(
+            example="/absolute/path/to/file.xml"
+        )
+    )
+    ImageField = (
+        "string represeting the (absolute) path to an image file, "
+        "including file extension: {example}".format(
+            example="/absolute/path/to/image.png"
+        )
+    )
+    IntegerField = "string representing an integer"
+    JSONField = "Mapping: {example}".format(example="{'some_key': 'Some value'}")
+    PositiveIntegerField = "string representing a positive integer"
+    TextField = "text (string)"
+    URLField = "string (URL)"
+    UUIDField = (
+        "UUID string {example}".format(
+            example="(e.g. f6b45142-0c60-4ec7-b43d-28ceacdc0b34)"
+        )
+    )
diff --git a/django_setup_configuration/exceptions.py b/django_setup_configuration/exceptions.py
index d8aac32..f7efa4f 100644
--- a/django_setup_configuration/exceptions.py
+++ b/django_setup_configuration/exceptions.py
@@ -20,3 +20,16 @@ class SelfTestFailed(ConfigurationException):
     """
     Raises an error for failed configuration self-tests.
     """
+
+
+class ImproperlyConfigured(ConfigurationException):
+    """
+    Raised when the library is not properly configured
+    """
+
+
+class DocumentationCheckFailed(ConfigurationException):
+    """
+    Raised when the documentation based on the configuration models
+    is not up to date
+    """
diff --git a/django_setup_configuration/management/commands/check_config_docs.py b/django_setup_configuration/management/commands/check_config_docs.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f2e88a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/django_setup_configuration/management/commands/check_config_docs.py
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+from django.conf import settings
+
+from ...exceptions import DocumentationCheckFailed
+from .generate_config_docs import ConfigDocBaseCommand
+
+SOURCE_DIR = settings.DJANGO_SETUP_CONFIG_DOC_DIR
+
+
+class Command(ConfigDocBaseCommand):
+    help = "Check that changes to configuration setup classes are reflected in the docs"
+
+    def check_doc(self, config_option: str) -> None:
+        source_path = f"{SOURCE_DIR}/{config_option}.rst"
+
+        try:
+            with open(source_path, "r") as file:
+                file_content = file.read()
+        except FileNotFoundError as exc:
+            msg = (
+                "\nNo documentation was found for {config}\n"
+                "Did you forget to run generate_config_docs?\n".format(
+                    config=self.get_config(config_option, class_name_only=True)
+                )
+            )
+            raise DocumentationCheckFailed(msg) from exc
+        else:
+            rendered_content = self.render_doc(config_option)
+
+            if rendered_content != file_content:
+                raise DocumentationCheckFailed(
+                    "Class {config} has changes which are not reflected in the documentation ({source_path}). "
+                    "Did you forget to run generate_config_docs?\n".format(
+                        config=self.get_config(config_option, class_name_only=True),
+                        source_path=f"{SOURCE_DIR}/{config_option}.rst",
+                    )
+                )
+
+    def handle(self, *args, **kwargs) -> None:
+        supported_options = self.registry.field_names
+
+        for option in supported_options:
+            self.check_doc(option)
diff --git a/django_setup_configuration/management/commands/generate_config_docs.py b/django_setup_configuration/management/commands/generate_config_docs.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ff7765
--- /dev/null
+++ b/django_setup_configuration/management/commands/generate_config_docs.py
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+from django.conf import settings
+from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand
+from django.template import loader
+
+from ...exceptions import ConfigurationException
+from ...registry import ConfigurationRegistry
+from ...typing import ConfigSettingsModel
+
+TEMPLATE_NAME = settings.DJANGO_SETUP_CONFIG_TEMPLATE_NAME
+TARGET_DIR = settings.DJANGO_SETUP_CONFIG_DOC_DIR
+
+
+class ConfigDocBaseCommand(BaseCommand):
+    registry = ConfigurationRegistry()
+
+    def get_config(self, config_option: str, class_name_only=False) -> ConfigSettingsModel:
+        config_model = getattr(self.registry, config_option, None)
+        if class_name_only:
+            return config_model.__name__
+
+        config_instance = config_model()
+        return config_instance
+
+    def get_detailed_info(self, config: ConfigSettingsModel) -> list[list[str]]:
+        ret = []
+        for field in config.config_fields.all:
+            part = []
+            part.append(f"{'Variable':<20}{config.get_setting_name(field)}")
+            part.append(f"{'Setting':<20}{field.verbose_name}")
+            part.append(f"{'Description':<20}{field.description or 'No description'}")
+            part.append(f"{'Possible values':<20}{field.values}")
+            part.append(f"{'Default value':<20}{field.default_value}")
+            ret.append(part)
+        return ret
+
+    def format_display_name(self, display_name):
+        """Surround title with '=' to display as heading in rst file"""
+
+        heading_bar = "=" * len(display_name)
+        display_name_formatted = f"{heading_bar}\n{display_name}\n{heading_bar}"
+        return display_name_formatted
+
+    def render_doc(self, config_option: str) -> None:
+        config = self.get_config(config_option)
+
+        required_settings = [
+            config.get_setting_name(field) for field in config.config_fields.required
+        ]
+        required_settings.sort()
+
+        all_settings = [
+            config.get_setting_name(field) for field in config.config_fields.all
+        ]
+        all_settings.sort()
+
+        detailed_info = self.get_detailed_info(config)
+        detailed_info.sort()
+
+        template_variables = {
+            "enable_settings": f"{config.namespace}_CONFIG_ENABLE",
+            "required_settings": required_settings,
+            "all_settings": all_settings,
+            "detailed_info": detailed_info,
+            "link": f".. _{config_option}:",
+            "title": self.format_display_name(config.display_name),
+        }
+
+        template = loader.get_template(TEMPLATE_NAME)
+        rendered = template.render(template_variables)
+
+        return rendered
+
+
+class Command(ConfigDocBaseCommand):
+    help = "Create documentation for configuration setup steps"
+
+    def add_arguments(self, parser):
+        parser.add_argument("config_option", nargs="?")
+
+    def write_doc(self, config_option: str) -> None:
+        rendered = self.render_doc(config_option)
+
+        output_path = TARGET_DIR / f"{config_option}.rst"
+
+        with open(output_path, "w") as output:
+            output.write(rendered)
+
+    def handle(self, *args, **kwargs) -> None:
+        config_option = kwargs["config_option"]
+
+        supported_options = self.registry.field_names
+
+        if config_option and config_option not in supported_options:
+            raise ConfigurationException(
+                f"Unsupported config option ({config_option})\n"
+                f"Supported: {', '.join(supported_options)}"
+            )
+        elif config_option:
+            self.write_doc(config_option)
+        else:
+            for option in supported_options:
+                self.write_doc(option)
diff --git a/django_setup_configuration/registry.py b/django_setup_configuration/registry.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..517e087
--- /dev/null
+++ b/django_setup_configuration/registry.py
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+from django.conf import settings
+from django.utils.module_loading import import_string
+
+from .exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
+from .typing import ConfigSettingsModel
+
+
+class ConfigurationRegistry:
+    def __init__(self):
+        if not getattr(settings, "DJANGO_SETUP_CONFIG_REGISTER", None):
+            raise ImproperlyConfigured("DJANGO_SETUP_CONFIG_REGISTER is not defined")
+
+        if not all((entry.get("model") for entry in settings.DJANGO_SETUP_CONFIG_REGISTER)):
+            raise ImproperlyConfigured(
+                "Each entry for the DJANGO_SETUP_CONFIG_REGISTER setting "
+                "must specify a configuration model"
+            )
+
+        self.register_config_models()
+
+    def register_config_models(self) -> None:
+        """
+        Load config models specified in settings and set them as attributes on the instance
+        """
+        for mapping in settings.DJANGO_SETUP_CONFIG_REGISTER:
+            file_name = mapping.get("file_name") or mapping["model"].split(".")[-1]
+
+            try:
+                model = import_string(mapping["model"])
+            except ImportError as exc:
+                exc.add_note(
+                    "\nHint: check your settings for django-setup-configuration"
+                )
+                raise
+            else:
+                setattr(self, file_name, model)
+
+    @property
+    def fields(self) -> tuple[ConfigSettingsModel, ...]:
+        return tuple(getattr(self, key) for key in vars(self).keys())
+
+    @property
+    def field_names(self) -> tuple[str, ...]:
+        return tuple(key for key in vars(self).keys())
diff --git a/django_setup_configuration/typing.py b/django_setup_configuration/typing.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8eee372
--- /dev/null
+++ b/django_setup_configuration/typing.py
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+from typing import TypeAlias
+
+from .base import ConfigSettingsBase
+
+ConfigSettingsModel: TypeAlias = ConfigSettingsBase