diff --git a/src/serena/config/serena_config.py b/src/serena/config/serena_config.py
index 3b2dd9be..b348c64d 100644
--- a/src/serena/config/serena_config.py
+++ b/src/serena/config/serena_config.py
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ from sensai.util.string import ToStringMixin
 
 from serena.constants import (
     DEFAULT_SOURCE_FILE_ENCODING,
+    PROJECT_LOCAL_TEMPLATE_FILE,
     PROJECT_TEMPLATE_FILE,
     REPO_ROOT,
     SERENA_CONFIG_TEMPLATE_FILE,
@@ -300,10 +301,13 @@ class ProjectConfig(SharedConfig):
             config_with_comments, _ = cls._load_yaml_dict(PROJECT_TEMPLATE_FILE)
             config_with_comments["project_name"] = project_name
             config_with_comments["languages"] = languages_to_use
+
             if save_to_disk:
                 project_yml_path = serena_config.get_project_yml_location(str(project_root))
                 log.info("Saving project configuration to %s", project_yml_path)
                 save_yaml(project_yml_path, config_with_comments)
+                project_local_yml_path = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(project_yml_path), cls.SERENA_LOCAL_PROJECT_FILE)
+                shutil.copy(PROJECT_LOCAL_TEMPLATE_FILE, project_local_yml_path)
             return cls._from_dict(config_with_comments)
 
     @classmethod
diff --git a/src/serena/constants.py b/src/serena/constants.py
index 6d90a539..4d96bcff 100644
--- a/src/serena/constants.py
+++ b/src/serena/constants.py
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ SERENA_FILE_ENCODING = "utf-8"
 """The encoding used for Serena's own files, such as configuration files and memories."""
 
 PROJECT_TEMPLATE_FILE = str(_serena_pkg_path / "resources" / "project.template.yml")
+PROJECT_LOCAL_TEMPLATE_FILE = str(_serena_pkg_path / "resources" / "project.local.template.yml")
 SERENA_CONFIG_TEMPLATE_FILE = str(_serena_pkg_path / "resources" / "serena_config.template.yml")
 
 SERENA_LOG_FORMAT = "%(levelname)-5s %(asctime)-15s [%(threadName)s] %(name)s:%(funcName)s:%(lineno)d - %(message)s"
diff --git a/src/serena/resources/project.local.template.yml b/src/serena/resources/project.local.template.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..36cd3def
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/serena/resources/project.local.template.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# This file allows you to locally override settings in project.yml for development purposes.
+#
+# Use the same keys as in project.yml here. Any setting you specify will override the corresponding
+# setting in project.yml, allowing you to customise the configuration for your local development environment
+# without affecting the project configuration in project.yml (which is intended to be versioned).