diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 6443534c4..965b7d712 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@ install:
 	  fi; \
 	  done
 	install -D -m 0644 -t $(DESTDIR)/$(prefix)/lib/systemd/system systemd/*.service systemd/*.timer systemd/*.path systemd/*.target
+	install -D -m 0644 -t $(DESTDIR)/$(prefix)/share/doc/bootc/baseimage/base/usr/lib/ostree/ baseimage/base/usr/lib/ostree/prepare-root.conf
+	install -d -m 755 $(DESTDIR)/$(prefix)/share/doc/bootc/baseimage/base/sysroot
+	cp -PfT baseimage/base/ostree $(DESTDIR)/$(prefix)/share/doc/bootc/baseimage/base/ostree 
 
 # Run this to also take over the functionality of `ostree container` for example.
 # Only needed for OS/distros that have callers invoking `ostree container` and not bootc.
diff --git a/baseimage/README.md b/baseimage/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1a759763a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/baseimage/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+# Recommended image content
+
+The subdirectories here are recommended to be installed alongside
+bootc in `/usr/share/doc/bootc/baseimage` - they act as reference
+sources of content.
+
+- [base](base): At the current time the content here is effectively
+  a hard requirement. It's not much, just an ostree configuration
+  enabling composefs, plus the default `sysroot` directory (which
+  may go away in the future) and the `ostree` symlink into `sysroot`.
diff --git a/baseimage/base/ostree b/baseimage/base/ostree
new file mode 120000
index 000000000..99bd5a25e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/baseimage/base/ostree
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+sysroot/ostree
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/baseimage/base/sysroot/.gitignore b/baseimage/base/sysroot/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ffead3ebb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/baseimage/base/sysroot/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# A trick to keep an empty directory in git
+*
+!.gitignore
diff --git a/baseimage/base/usr/lib/ostree/prepare-root.conf b/baseimage/base/usr/lib/ostree/prepare-root.conf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2faae22bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/baseimage/base/usr/lib/ostree/prepare-root.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+[composefs]
+enabled = true
diff --git a/contrib/packaging/bootc.spec b/contrib/packaging/bootc.spec
index 7a5bb798e..5ef2dd063 100644
--- a/contrib/packaging/bootc.spec
+++ b/contrib/packaging/bootc.spec
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ BuildRequires: libzstd-devel
 %{_prefix}/lib/systemd/system-generators/*
 %{_prefix}/lib/bootc
 %{_unitdir}/*
+%{_docdir}/bootc/*
 %{_mandir}/man*/bootc*
 
 %prep
diff --git a/lib/src/lints.rs b/lib/src/lints.rs
index 6fbea7adc..654b6d837 100644
--- a/lib/src/lints.rs
+++ b/lib/src/lints.rs
@@ -3,8 +3,9 @@
 //! This module implements `bootc container lint`.
 
 use std::env::consts::ARCH;
+use std::os::unix::ffi::OsStrExt;
 
-use anyhow::{bail, ensure, Result};
+use anyhow::{bail, ensure, Context, Result};
 use cap_std::fs::Dir;
 use cap_std_ext::cap_std;
 use cap_std_ext::dirext::CapStdExtDirExt as _;
@@ -12,6 +13,9 @@ use fn_error_context::context;
 
 use crate::utils::openat2_with_retry;
 
+/// Reference to embedded default baseimage content that should exist.
+const BASEIMAGE_REF: &str = "usr/share/doc/bootc/baseimage/base";
+
 /// check for the existence of the /var/run directory
 /// if it exists we need to check that it links to /run if not error
 /// if it does not exist error.
@@ -23,6 +27,7 @@ pub(crate) fn lint(root: &Dir) -> Result<()> {
         check_parse_kargs,
         check_usretc,
         check_utf8,
+        check_baseimage_root,
     ];
     for lint in lints {
         lint(&root)?;
@@ -116,6 +121,57 @@ fn check_utf8(dir: &Dir) -> Result<()> {
     Ok(())
 }
 
+/// Check for a few files and directories we expect in the base image.
+fn check_baseimage_root_norecurse(dir: &Dir) -> Result<()> {
+    // Check /sysroot
+    let meta = dir.symlink_metadata_optional("sysroot")?;
+    match meta {
+        Some(meta) if !meta.is_dir() => {
+            anyhow::bail!("Expected a directory for /sysroot")
+        }
+        None => anyhow::bail!("Missing /sysroot"),
+        _ => {}
+    }
+
+    // Check /ostree -> sysroot/ostree
+    let Some(meta) = dir.symlink_metadata_optional("ostree")? else {
+        anyhow::bail!("Missing ostree -> sysroot/ostree link")
+    };
+    if !meta.is_symlink() {
+        anyhow::bail!("/ostree should be a symlink");
+    }
+    let link = dir.read_link_contents("ostree")?;
+    let expected = "sysroot/ostree";
+    if link.as_os_str().as_bytes() != expected.as_bytes() {
+        anyhow::bail!("Expected /ostree -> {expected}, not {link:?}");
+    }
+
+    // Check the prepare-root config
+    let prepareroot_path = "usr/lib/ostree/prepare-root.conf";
+    let config_data = dir
+        .read_to_string(prepareroot_path)
+        .context(prepareroot_path)?;
+    let config = ostree_ext::glib::KeyFile::new();
+    config.load_from_data(&config_data, ostree_ext::glib::KeyFileFlags::empty())?;
+
+    if !ostree_ext::ostree_prepareroot::overlayfs_enabled_in_config(&config)? {
+        anyhow::bail!("{prepareroot_path} does not have composefs enabled")
+    }
+
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+/// Check ostree-related base image content.
+fn check_baseimage_root(dir: &Dir) -> Result<()> {
+    check_baseimage_root_norecurse(dir)?;
+    // If we have our own documentation with the expected root contents
+    // embedded, then check that too! Mostly just because recursion is fun.
+    if let Some(dir) = dir.open_dir_optional(BASEIMAGE_REF)? {
+        check_baseimage_root_norecurse(&dir)?;
+    }
+    Ok(())
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
@@ -260,4 +316,34 @@ mod tests {
         root.remove_file(badfile).unwrap(); // Get rid of the problem
         check_utf8(root).unwrap(); // Check it
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_baseimage_root() -> Result<()> {
+        use bootc_utils::CommandRunExt;
+        use cap_std_ext::cmdext::CapStdExtCommandExt;
+        use std::path::Path;
+
+        let td = fixture()?;
+
+        // An empty root should fail our test
+        assert!(check_baseimage_root(&td).is_err());
+
+        // Copy our reference base image content from the source dir
+        let manifest = std::env::var_os("CARGO_MANIFEST_PATH").unwrap();
+        let srcdir = Path::new(&manifest)
+            .parent()
+            .unwrap()
+            .join("../baseimage/base");
+        for ent in std::fs::read_dir(srcdir)? {
+            let ent = ent?;
+            std::process::Command::new("cp")
+                .cwd_dir(td.try_clone()?)
+                .arg("-pr")
+                .arg(ent.path())
+                .arg(".")
+                .run()?;
+        }
+        check_baseimage_root(&td).unwrap();
+        Ok(())
+    }
 }