diff --git a/swh/lister/crates/__init__.py b/swh/lister/crates/__init__.py
--- a/swh/lister/crates/__init__.py
+++ b/swh/lister/crates/__init__.py
@@ -3,6 +3,136 @@
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
 
+"""
+Crates lister
+=============
+
+The Crates lister list origins from `Crates.io`_, the Rust community’s crate registry.
+
+Origins are `packages`_ for the `Rust language`_ ecosystem.
+Package follow a `layout specifications`_ to be usable with the `Cargo`_ package manager
+and have a `Cargo.toml`_ file manifest which consists in metadata to describe and build
+a specific package version.
+
+As of August 2022 `Crates.io`_ list 89013 packages name for a total of 588215 released
+versions.
+
+Origins retrieving strategy
+---------------------------
+
+A json http api to list packages from crates.io but we choose a `different strategy`_
+in order to reduce to its bare minimum the amount of http call and bandwidth.
+We clone a git repository which contains a tree of directories whose last child folder
+name corresponds to the package name and contains a Cargo.toml file with some json data
+to describe all existing versions of the package.
+It takes a few seconds to clone the repository and browse it to build a full index of
+existing package and related versions.
+The lister is incremental, so the first time it clones and browses the repository as
+previously described then stores the last seen commit id.
+Next time, it retrieves the list of new and changed files since last commit id and
+returns new or changed package with all of their related versions.
+
+Note that all Git related operations are done with `Dulwich`_, a Python
+implementation of the Git file formats and protocols.
+
+Page listing
+------------
+
+Each page is related to one package.
+Each line of a page corresponds to different versions of this package.
+
+The data schema for each line is:
+
+* **name**: Package name
+* **version**: Package version
+* **crate_file**: Package download url
+* **checksum**: Package download checksum
+* **yanked**: Whether the package is yanked or not
+* **last_update**: Iso8601 last update date computed upon git commit date of the
+    related Cargo.toml file
+
+Origins from page
+-----------------
+
+The lister yields one origin per page.
+The origin url corresponds to the http api url for a package, for example
+"https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/{package}".
+
+Additionally we add some data set to "extra_loader_arguments":
+
+* **artifacts**: Represent data about the Crates to download, following
+    :ref:`original-artifacts-json specification <original-artifacts-json>`
+* **crates_metadata**: To store all other interesting attributes that do not belongs
+    to artifacts. For now it mainly indicate when a version is `yanked`_.
+
+Origin data example::
+
+    {
+        "url": "https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/rand",
+        "artifacts": [
+            {
+                "checksums": {
+                    "sha256": "48a45b46c2a8c38348adb1205b13c3c5eb0174e0c0fec52cc88e9fb1de14c54d",  # noqa: B950
+                },
+                "filename": "rand-0.1.1.crate",
+                "url": "https://static.crates.io/crates/rand/rand-0.1.1.crate",
+                "version": "0.1.1",
+            },
+            {
+                "checksums": {
+                    "sha256": "6e229ed392842fa93c1d76018d197b7e1b74250532bafb37b0e1d121a92d4cf7",  # noqa: B950
+                },
+                "filename": "rand-0.1.2.crate",
+                "url": "https://static.crates.io/crates/rand/rand-0.1.2.crate",
+                "version": "0.1.2",
+            },
+        ],
+        "crates_metadata": [
+            {
+                "version": "0.1.1",
+                "yanked": False,
+            },
+            {
+                "version": "0.1.2",
+                "yanked": False,
+            },
+        ],
+    }
+
+Running tests
+-------------
+
+Activate the virtualenv and run from within swh-lister directory:
+
+   pytest -s -vv --log-cli-level=DEBUG swh/lister/crates/tests
+
+Testing with Docker
+-------------------
+
+Change directory to swh/docker then launch the docker environment:
+
+   docker-compose up -d
+
+Then connect to the lister:
+
+   docker exec -it docker_swh-lister_1 bash
+
+And run the lister (The output of this listing results in “oneshot” tasks in the scheduler):
+
+   swh lister run -l crates
+
+.. _Crates.io: https://crates.io
+.. _packages: https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/ch07-01-packages-and-crates.html
+.. _Rust language: https://www.rust-lang.org/
+.. _layout specifications: https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/guide/project-layout.html
+.. _Cargo: https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/guide/why-cargo-exists.html#enter-cargo
+.. _Cargo.toml: https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/manifest.html
+.. _different strategy: https://crates.io/data-access
+.. _Dulwich: https://www.dulwich.io/
+.. _yanked: https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/publishing.html#cargo-yank
+"""
+
+
 def register():
     from .lister import CratesLister