diff --git a/python/ycm/completers/completer.py b/python/ycm/completers/completer.py
index e4c41e14..336b326b 100644
--- a/python/ycm/completers/completer.py
+++ b/python/ycm/completers/completer.py
@@ -64,7 +64,8 @@ class Completer( object ):
   CandidatesForQueryAsync() is the main entry point when the user types. For
   "foo.bar", the user query is "bar" and completions matching this string should
   be shown. The job of CandidatesForQueryAsync() is to merely initiate this
-  request, which will hopefully be processed in a background thread.
+  request, which will hopefully be processed in a background thread. You may
+  want to subclass ThreadedCompleter instead of Completer directly.
 
   AsyncCandidateRequestReady() is the function that is repeatedly polled until
   it returns True. If CandidatesForQueryAsync() started a background task of
@@ -94,7 +95,10 @@ class Completer( object ):
   thread-safe). But even if you're certain, still try to do the processing in a
   background thread. Your completer is unlikely to be merged if it does not,
   because synchronous processing will block Vim's GUI thread and that's a very,
-  VERY bad thing (so try not to do it!).
+  VERY bad thing (so try not to do it!). Again, you may want to subclass
+  ThreadedCompleter instead of Completer directly; ThreadedCompleter will
+  abstract away the use of a background thread for you. See
+  threaded_completer.py.
 
   The On* functions are provided for your convenience. They are called when
   their specific events occur. For instance, the identifier completer collects
diff --git a/python/ycm/completers/threaded_completer.py b/python/ycm/completers/threaded_completer.py
index 71641948..fd6192aa 100644
--- a/python/ycm/completers/threaded_completer.py
+++ b/python/ycm/completers/threaded_completer.py
@@ -22,6 +22,22 @@ from threading import Thread, Event
 from ycm.completers.completer import Completer
 
 class ThreadedCompleter( Completer ):
+  """A subclass of Completer that abstracts away the use of a background thread.
+
+  This is a great class to subclass for your custom completer. It will provide
+  you with async computation of candidates when you implement the
+  ComputeCandidates() method; no need to worry about threads, locks, events or
+  similar.
+
+  If you use this class as the base class for your Completer, you DON'T need to
+  provide implementations for the CandidatesForQueryAsync(),
+  AsyncCandidateRequestReady() and CandidatesFromStoredRequest() functions. Just
+  implement ComputeCandidates().
+
+  For examples of subclasses of this class, see the following files:
+  python/completers/general/filename_completer.py
+  """
+
   def __init__( self ):
     super( ThreadedCompleter, self ).__init__()
     self._query_ready = Event()
@@ -54,6 +70,9 @@ class ThreadedCompleter( Completer ):
 
   @abc.abstractmethod
   def ComputeCandidates( self, query, start_column ):
+    """This function should compute the candidates to show to the user.
+    The return value should be of the same type as that for
+    CandidatesFromStoredRequest()."""
     pass