diff --git a/changelog/12857.doc.rst b/changelog/12857.doc.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..08b2af97277
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/12857.doc.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Documented how ``--confcutdir`` affects initial ``conftest.py`` discovery.
diff --git a/doc/en/how-to/writing_plugins.rst b/doc/en/how-to/writing_plugins.rst
index 56043a14f97..0b12283f991 100644
--- a/doc/en/how-to/writing_plugins.rst
+++ b/doc/en/how-to/writing_plugins.rst
@@ -54,8 +54,11 @@ Plugin discovery order at tool startup
      :confval:`testpaths` if defined and running from the rootdir, otherwise the
      current dir
    - for each test path, load ``conftest.py`` and ``test*/conftest.py`` relative
-     to the directory part of the test path, if exist. Before a ``conftest.py``
-     file is loaded, load ``conftest.py`` files in all of its parent directories.
+     to the directory part of the test path, if they exist. Before a ``conftest.py``
+     file is loaded, load ``conftest.py`` files in its parent directories up to
+     the :option:`--confcutdir` limit. When ``--confcutdir`` is not provided,
+     the cutoff defaults to the directory containing the config file, or to the
+     :ref:`rootdir <rootdir>` if no config file is found.
      After a ``conftest.py`` file is loaded, recursively load all plugins specified
      in its :globalvar:`pytest_plugins` variable if present.