diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7f969b21822e..2b01aa3c3ce0 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -81,6 +81,8 @@ Main (unreleased)
 
 - Updated dependency to add support for Go 1.22 (@stefanb)
 
+- Added documentation for `yaml_decode` stdlib function (@djcode)
+
 v0.39.2 (2024-1-31)
 --------------------
 
diff --git a/docs/sources/flow/reference/stdlib/yaml_decode.md b/docs/sources/flow/reference/stdlib/yaml_decode.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..fa72b16e056c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/sources/flow/reference/stdlib/yaml_decode.md
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+---
+aliases:
+- ../../configuration-language/standard-library/yaml_decode/
+- /docs/grafana-cloud/agent/flow/reference/stdlib/yaml_decode/
+- /docs/grafana-cloud/monitor-infrastructure/agent/flow/reference/stdlib/yaml_decode/
+- /docs/grafana-cloud/monitor-infrastructure/integrations/agent/flow/reference/stdlib/yaml_decode/
+- /docs/grafana-cloud/send-data/agent/flow/reference/stdlib/yaml_decode/
+canonical: https://grafana.com/docs/agent/latest/flow/reference/stdlib/yaml_decode/
+description: Learn about yaml_decode
+title: yaml_decode
+---
+
+# yaml_decode
+
+The `yaml_decode` function decodes a string representing YAML into a River
+value. `yaml_decode` fails if the string argument provided cannot be parsed as
+YAML.
+
+A common use case of `yaml_decode` is to decode the output of a
+[`local.file`][] component to a River value.
+
+{{< admonition type="tip" >}}
+Remember to escape double quotes when passing YAML string literals to `yaml_decode`.
+
+For example, the YAML value `key: "value"` is properly represented by the string `"key: \"value\""`.
+{{< /admonition >}}
+
+## Examples
+
+```
+> yaml_decode("15")
+15
+
+> yaml_decode("[1, 2, 3]")
+[1, 2, 3]
+
+> yaml_decode("null")
+null
+
+> yaml_decode("key: value")
+{
+  key = "value",
+}
+
+> yaml_decode(local.file.some_file.content)
+"Hello, world!"
+```
+
+[`local.file`]: {{< relref "../components/local.file.md" >}}