diff --git a/.github/CODEOWNERS b/.github/CODEOWNERS
index f1a374445657f..73fb10532fd8d 100644
--- a/.github/CODEOWNERS
+++ b/.github/CODEOWNERS
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
 /x-pack/plugins/discover_enhanced/ @elastic/kibana-app
 /x-pack/plugins/lens/ @elastic/kibana-app
 /x-pack/plugins/graph/ @elastic/kibana-app
-/src/legacy/core_plugins/kibana/public/local_application_service/ @elastic/kibana-app
 /src/plugins/dashboard/ @elastic/kibana-app
 /src/plugins/discover/ @elastic/kibana-app
 /src/plugins/input_control_vis/ @elastic/kibana-app
diff --git a/src/plugins/dashboard/README.md b/src/plugins/dashboard/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..f44bd943eaca9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/plugins/dashboard/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Contains the dashboard application.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/plugins/discover/README.md b/src/plugins/discover/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..a914d651eef35
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/plugins/discover/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Contains the Discover application and the saved search embeddable.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/plugins/input_control_vis/README.md b/src/plugins/input_control_vis/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..67266079dede5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/plugins/input_control_vis/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Contains the input control visualization allowing to place custom filter controls on a dashboard.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/plugins/timelion/README.md b/src/plugins/timelion/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..d29a33028e967
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/plugins/timelion/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Contains the deprecated timelion application. For the timelion visualization,
+which also contains the timelion APIs and backend, look at the vis_type_timelion plugin.
diff --git a/src/plugins/vis_type_markdown/README.md b/src/plugins/vis_type_markdown/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..ae79a4822d4ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/plugins/vis_type_markdown/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+The markdown visualization that can be used to place text panels on dashboards.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/plugins/vis_type_metric/README.md b/src/plugins/vis_type_metric/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..78df92832bdbf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/plugins/vis_type_metric/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Contains the metric visualization.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/plugins/vis_type_table/README.md b/src/plugins/vis_type_table/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..cf37e133ed1cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/plugins/vis_type_table/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Contains the data table visualization, that allows presenting data in a simple table format.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/plugins/vis_type_tagcloud/README.md b/src/plugins/vis_type_tagcloud/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..7e8f2a6e5b72a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/plugins/vis_type_tagcloud/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Contains the tagcloud visualization.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/plugins/vis_type_timelion/README.md b/src/plugins/vis_type_timelion/README.md
index c306e03abf2c6..89d34527c51d6 100644
--- a/src/plugins/vis_type_timelion/README.md
+++ b/src/plugins/vis_type_timelion/README.md
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 # Vis type Timelion
 
+Contains the timelion visualization and the timelion backend.
+
 # Generate a parser
 If your grammar was changed in `public/chain.peg` you need to re-generate the static parser. You could use a grunt task:
 
diff --git a/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/README.md b/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..4b4184b6eadd9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Contains everything around TSVB (the editor, visualizatin implementations and backends).
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/plugins/vis_type_vega/README.md b/src/plugins/vis_type_vega/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..3d9bfd387e2c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/plugins/vis_type_vega/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Contains the Vega visualization.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/plugins/vis_type_vislib/README.md b/src/plugins/vis_type_vislib/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..7641ea2acd1ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/plugins/vis_type_vislib/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Contains the vislib visualizations. These are the classical area/line/bar, pie, gauge/goal and 
+heatmap charts.
diff --git a/src/plugins/vis_type_xy/README.md b/src/plugins/vis_type_xy/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..70ddb21c1e9db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/plugins/vis_type_xy/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Contains the new xy-axis chart using the elastic-charts library, which will eventually
+replace the vislib xy-axis (bar, area, line) charts.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/plugins/visualizations/README.md b/src/plugins/visualizations/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..c61beb670a503
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/plugins/visualizations/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Contains most of the visualization infrastructure, e.g. the visualization type registry or the 
+visualization embeddable.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/plugins/visualize/README.md b/src/plugins/visualize/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..be3e555a1407b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/plugins/visualize/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Contains the visualize application which includes the listing page and the app frame,
+which will load the visualization's editor.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/dashboard_enhanced/README.md b/x-pack/plugins/dashboard_enhanced/README.md
index d9296ae158621..0aeb156a99f1f 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/dashboard_enhanced/README.md
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/dashboard_enhanced/README.md
@@ -1 +1 @@
-# X-Pack part of Dashboard app
+Contains the enhancements to the OSS dashboard app.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/dashboard_mode/README.md b/x-pack/plugins/dashboard_mode/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..4e244afb97fdf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/dashboard_mode/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+The deprecated dashboard only mode.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/discover_enhanced/README.md b/x-pack/plugins/discover_enhanced/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..08d0dbb9cdbef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/discover_enhanced/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Contains the enhancements to the OSS discover app.
\ No newline at end of file