diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index babbf48671e2..44d88a165305 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -379,10 +379,12 @@ See [this section][branch] to know when to use the release branches.
 [staging]: #staging
 
 The staging workflow exists to batch Hydra builds of many packages together.
+It is coordinated in the [Staging room](https://matrix.to/#/#staging:nixos.org) on Matrix.
 
 It works by directing commits that cause [mass rebuilds][mass-rebuild] to a separate `staging` branch that isn't directly built by Hydra.
 Regularly, the `staging` branch is _manually_ merged into a `staging-next` branch to be built by Hydra using the [`nixpkgs:staging-next` jobset](https://hydra.nixos.org/jobset/nixpkgs/staging-next).
-The `staging-next` branch should then only receive changes that fix Hydra builds.
+The `staging-next` branch should then only receive changes that fix Hydra builds;
+**for anything else, ask the [Staging room](https://matrix.to/#/#staging:nixos.org) first**.
 Once it is verified that there are no major regressions, it is merged into `master` using [a pull request](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pulls?q=head%3Astaging-next).
 This is done manually in order to ensure it's a good use of Hydra's computing resources.
 By keeping the `staging-next` branch separate from `staging`, this batching does not block developers from merging changes into `staging`.