diff --git a/r/README.Rmd b/r/README.Rmd
index cb57d1ab992..2442b83435f 100644
--- a/r/README.Rmd
+++ b/r/README.Rmd
@@ -161,6 +161,24 @@ remotes::install_github("romainfrancois/decor")
 install.packages(c("dplyr", "purrr", "glue"))
 ```
 
+We use Google C++ style in our C++ code. Check for style errors with
+
+```
+./lint.sh
+```
+
+Fix any style issues before committing with
+
+```
+./lint.sh --fix
+```
+
+The lint script requires Python 3 and `clang-format-7`. If the command isn't
+found, you can explicitly provide the path to it like
+`CLANG_FORMAT=$(which clang-format-7) ./lint.sh`. On macOS,
+you can get this by installing LLVM via Homebrew and running the script as
+`CLANG_FORMAT=$(brew --prefix llvm@7)/bin/clang-format ./lint.sh`
+
 ### Useful functions
 
 Within an R session, these can help with package development:
diff --git a/r/README.md b/r/README.md
index 937f00d85af..9d542973045 100644
--- a/r/README.md
+++ b/r/README.md
@@ -233,6 +233,20 @@ remotes::install_github("romainfrancois/decor")
 install.packages(c("dplyr", "purrr", "glue"))
 ```
 
+We use Google C++ style in our C++ code. Check for style errors with
+
+    ./lint.sh
+
+Fix any style issues before committing with
+
+    ./lint.sh --fix
+
+The lint script requires Python 3 and `clang-format-7`. If the command
+isn’t found, you can explicitly provide the path to it like
+`CLANG_FORMAT=$(which clang-format-7) ./lint.sh`. On macOS, you can get
+this by installing LLVM via Homebrew and running the script as
+`CLANG_FORMAT=$(brew --prefix llvm@7)/bin/clang-format ./lint.sh`
+
 ### Useful functions
 
 Within an R session, these can help with package development:
diff --git a/r/lint.sh b/r/lint.sh
index fed64c1b31c..bd0f7a81100 100755
--- a/r/lint.sh
+++ b/r/lint.sh
@@ -17,11 +17,14 @@
 # specific language governing permissions and limitations
 # under the License.
 
+# This script requires Python 3 and clang-format, which should already be
+# on your system. See r/README.md for further guidance
+
 SOURCE_DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"
 CPP_BUILD_SUPPORT=$SOURCE_DIR/../cpp/build-support
 
 # Run clang-format
-CLANG_FORMAT=clang-format-7
+: ${CLANG_FORMAT:=clang-format-7}
 $CPP_BUILD_SUPPORT/run_clang_format.py \
     --clang_format_binary=$CLANG_FORMAT \
     --exclude_glob=$CPP_BUILD_SUPPORT/lint_exclusions.txt \