diff --git a/docs/layouts.md b/docs/layouts.md
index e69de29..ca30e3a 100644
--- a/docs/layouts.md
+++ b/docs/layouts.md
@@ -0,0 +1,177 @@
+# Layouts
+
+Layouts are functions used by appenders to format log events for output. They take a log event as an argument and return a string. Log4js comes with several appenders built-in, and provides ways to create your own if these are not suitable.
+
+For most use cases you will not need to configure layouts - there are some appenders which do not need layouts defined (for example, [logFaces-UDP](logFaces-UDP.md)); all the appenders that use layouts will have a sensible default defined.
+
+## Configuration
+
+Most appender configuration will take a field called `layout`, which is an object - typically with a single field `type` which is the name of an appender defined below. Some appenders require extra configuration options, which should be included in the same object.
+
+## Example
+```javascript
+log4js.configure({
+  appenders: { out: { type: 'stdout', layout: { type: 'basic' } } },
+  categories: { default: { appenders: ['out'], level: 'info' } }
+});
+```
+This configuration replaces the [stdout](stdout.md) appender's default `coloured` layout with `basic` layout.
+
+# Built-in Layouts
+
+## Basic
+
+* `type` - `basic`
+
+Basic layout will output the timestamp, level, category, followed by the formatted log event data.
+
+## Example
+```javascript
+log4js.configure({
+  appenders: { 'out': { type: 'stdout', layout: { type: 'basic' } } },
+  categories: { default: { appenders: ['out'], level: 'info' } }
+});
+const logger = log4js.getLogger('cheese');
+logger.error('Cheese is too ripe!');
+```
+This will output:
+```
+[2017-03-30 07:57:00.113] [ERROR] cheese - Cheese is too ripe!
+```
+
+## Coloured
+
+* `type` - `coloured` (or `colored`)
+
+This layout is the same as `basic`, except that the timestamp, level and category will be coloured according to the log event's level (if your terminal/file supports it - if you see some weird characters in your output and no colour then you should probably switch to `basic`). The colours used are:
+* `TRACE` - 'blue'
+* `DEBUG` - 'cyan'
+* `INFO` - 'green'
+* `WARN` - 'yellow'
+* `ERROR` - 'red'
+* `FATAL` - 'magenta'
+
+## Message Pass-Through
+* `type` - `messagePassThrough`
+
+This layout just formats the log event data, and does not output a timestamp, level or category. It is typically used in appenders that serialise the events using a specific format (e.g. [gelf](gelf.md)).
+
+## Example
+```javascript
+log4js.configure({
+  appenders: { out: { type: 'stdout', layout: { type: 'messagePassThrough' } } },
+  categories: { default: { appenders: [ 'out' ], level: 'info' } }
+});
+const logger = log4js.getLogger('cheese');
+const cheeseName = 'gouda';
+logger.error('Cheese is too ripe! Cheese was: ', cheeseName);
+```
+This will output:
+```
+Cheese is too ripe! Cheese was: gouda
+```
+
+## Dummy
+
+* `type` - `dummy`
+
+This layout only outputs the first value in the log event's data. It was added for the [logstashUDP](logstashUDP.md) appender, and I'm not sure there's much use for it outside that.
+
+## Example
+```javascript
+log4js.configure({
+  appenders: { out: { type: 'stdout', layout: { type: 'dummy' } } },
+  categories: { default: { appenders: [ 'out' ], level: 'info' } }
+});
+const logger = log4js.getLogger('cheese');
+const cheeseName = 'gouda';
+logger.error('Cheese is too ripe! Cheese was: ', cheeseName);
+```
+This will output:
+```
+Cheese is too ripe! Cheese was:
+```
+
+## Pattern
+* `type` - `pattern`
+* `pattern` - `string` - specifier for the output format, using placeholders as described below
+* `tokens` - `object` (optional) - user-defined tokens to be used in the pattern
+
+## Pattern format
+The pattern string can contain any characters, but sequences beginning with `%` will be replaced with values taken from the log event, and other environmental values.
+Format for specifiers is `%[padding].[truncation][field]{[format]}` - padding and truncation are optional, and format only applies to a few tokens (notably, date).
+e.g. %5.10p - left pad the log level by 5 characters, up to a max of 10
+
+Fields can be any of:
+*  `%r` time in toLocaleTimeString format
+*  `%p` log level
+*  `%c` log category
+*  `%h` hostname
+*  `%m` log data
+*  `%d` date, formatted - default is `ISO8601`, format options are: `ISO8601`, `ISO8601_WITH_TZ_OFFSET`, `ABSOLUTE`, `DATE`, or any string compatible with the [date-format](https://www.npmjs.com/package/date-format) library. e.g. `%d{DATE}`, `%d{yyyy/MM/dd-hh.mm.ss}`
+*  `%%` % - for when you want a literal `%` in your output
+*  `%n` newline
+*  `%z` process id (from `process.pid`)
+*  `%x{<tokenname>}` add dynamic tokens to your log. Tokens are specified in the tokens parameter.
+*  `%[` start a coloured block (colour will be taken from the log level, similar to `colouredLayout`)
+*  `%]` end a coloured block
+
+## Tokens
+User-defined tokens can be either a string or a function. Functions will be passed the log event, and should return a string. For example, you could define a custom token that outputs the log event's context value for 'user' like so:
+```javascript
+log4js.configure({
+  appenders: {
+    out: { type: 'stdout', layout: {
+      type: 'pattern',
+      pattern: '%d %p %c %x{user} %m%n',
+      tokens: {
+        user: function(logEvent) {
+          return logEvent.context.user;
+        }
+      }
+    }}
+  },
+  categories: { default: { appenders: ['out'], level: 'info' } }
+});
+const logger = log4js.getLogger();
+logger.addContext('user', 'charlie');
+logger.info('doing something.');
+```
+This would output:
+```
+2017-06-01 08:32:56.283 INFO default charlie doing something.
+```
+
+# Adding your own layouts
+
+You can add your own layouts by calling `log4js.addLayout(type, fn)` before calling `log4js.configure`. `type` is the label you want to use to refer to your layout in appender configuration. `fn` is a function that takes a single object argument, which will contain the configuration for the layout instance, and returns a layout function. A layout function takes a log event argument and returns a string (usually, although you could return anything as long as the appender knows what to do with it).
+
+## Custom Layout Example (see examples/custom-layout.js)
+```javascript
+const log4js = require('log4js');
+
+log4js.addLayout('json', function(config) {
+  return function(logEvent) { return JSON.stringify(logEvent) + config.separator; }
+});
+
+log4js.configure({
+  appenders: {
+    out: { type: 'stdout', layout: { type: 'json', separator: ',' } }
+  },
+  categories: {
+    default: { appenders: ['out'], level: 'info' }
+  }
+});
+
+const logger = log4js.getLogger('json-test');
+logger.info('this is just a test');
+logger.error('of a custom appender');
+logger.warn('that outputs json');
+log4js.shutdown(() => {});
+```
+This example outputs the following:
+```javascript
+{"startTime":"2017-06-05T22:23:08.479Z","categoryName":"json-test","data":["this is just a test"],"level":{"level":20000,"levelStr":"INFO"},"context":{}},
+{"startTime":"2017-06-05T22:23:08.483Z","categoryName":"json-test","data":["of a custom appender"],"level":{"level":40000,"levelStr":"ERROR"},"context":{}},
+{"startTime":"2017-06-05T22:23:08.483Z","categoryName":"json-test","data":["that outputs json"],"level":{"level":30000,"levelStr":"WARN"},"context":{}},
+```
diff --git a/examples/custom-layout.js b/examples/custom-layout.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8447c5a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/custom-layout.js
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+const log4js = require('../lib/log4js');
+
+log4js.addLayout('json', config => function (logEvent) {
+  return JSON.stringify(logEvent) + config.separator;
+});
+
+log4js.configure({
+  appenders: {
+    out: { type: 'stdout', layout: { type: 'json', separator: ',' } }
+  },
+  categories: {
+    default: { appenders: ['out'], level: 'info' }
+  }
+});
+
+const logger = log4js.getLogger('json-test');
+logger.info('this is just a test');
+logger.error('of a custom appender');
+logger.warn('that outputs json');
+log4js.shutdown(() => {});
diff --git a/lib/log4js.js b/lib/log4js.js
index 8a682d5..88eeadc 100644
--- a/lib/log4js.js
+++ b/lib/log4js.js
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ const fs = require('fs');
 const Configuration = require('./configuration');
 const connectModule = require('./connect-logger');
 const logger = require('./logger');
+const layouts = require('./layouts');
 
 const defaultConfig = {
   appenders: {
@@ -172,7 +173,8 @@ const log4js = {
   getLogger,
   configure,
   shutdown,
-  connectLogger
+  connectLogger,
+  addLayout: layouts.addLayout
 };
 
 module.exports = log4js;