diff --git a/qapi/block.json b/qapi/block.json
index 145c268bb646..7898104dae42 100644
--- a/qapi/block.json
+++ b/qapi/block.json
@@ -250,9 +250,12 @@
 # @name: Export name. If unspecified, the @device parameter is used as the
 #        export name. (Since 2.12)
 #
+# @description: Free-form description of the export, up to 4096 bytes.
+#               (Since 5.0)
+#
 # @writable: Whether clients should be able to write to the device via the
 #     NBD connection (default false).
-
+#
 # @bitmap: Also export the dirty bitmap reachable from @device, so the
 #          NBD client can use NBD_OPT_SET_META_CONTEXT with
 #          "qemu:dirty-bitmap:NAME" to inspect the bitmap. (since 4.0)
@@ -263,8 +266,8 @@
 # Since: 1.3.0
 ##
 { 'command': 'nbd-server-add',
-  'data': {'device': 'str', '*name': 'str', '*writable': 'bool',
-           '*bitmap': 'str' } }
+  'data': {'device': 'str', '*name': 'str', '*description': 'str',
+           '*writable': 'bool', '*bitmap': 'str' } }

 ##
 # @NbdServerRemoveMode:
diff --git a/blockdev-nbd.c b/blockdev-nbd.c
index 8c20baa4a4b9..de2f2ff71320 100644
--- a/blockdev-nbd.c
+++ b/blockdev-nbd.c
@@ -144,6 +144,7 @@ void qmp_nbd_server_start(SocketAddressLegacy *addr,
 }

 void qmp_nbd_server_add(const char *device, bool has_name, const char *name,
+                        bool has_description, const char *description,
                         bool has_writable, bool writable,
                         bool has_bitmap, const char *bitmap, Error **errp)
 {
@@ -167,6 +168,11 @@ void qmp_nbd_server_add(const char *device, bool has_name, const char *name,
         return;
     }

+    if (has_description && strlen(description) > NBD_MAX_STRING_SIZE) {
+        error_setg(errp, "description '%s' too long", description);
+        return;
+    }
+
     if (nbd_export_find(name)) {
         error_setg(errp, "NBD server already has export named '%s'", name);
         return;
@@ -195,7 +201,8 @@ void qmp_nbd_server_add(const char *device, bool has_name, const char *name,
         writable = false;
     }

-    exp = nbd_export_new(bs, 0, len, name, NULL, bitmap, !writable, !writable,
+    exp = nbd_export_new(bs, 0, len, name, description, bitmap,
+                         !writable, !writable,
                          NULL, false, on_eject_blk, errp);
     if (!exp) {
         goto out;
diff --git a/monitor/hmp-cmds.c b/monitor/hmp-cmds.c
index b2551c16d129..574c6321c9d0 100644
--- a/monitor/hmp-cmds.c
+++ b/monitor/hmp-cmds.c
@@ -2352,7 +2352,7 @@ void hmp_nbd_server_start(Monitor *mon, const QDict *qdict)
             continue;
         }

-        qmp_nbd_server_add(info->value->device, false, NULL,
+        qmp_nbd_server_add(info->value->device, false, NULL, false, NULL,
                            true, writable, false, NULL, &local_err);

         if (local_err != NULL) {
@@ -2374,7 +2374,7 @@ void hmp_nbd_server_add(Monitor *mon, const QDict *qdict)
     bool writable = qdict_get_try_bool(qdict, "writable", false);
     Error *local_err = NULL;

-    qmp_nbd_server_add(device, !!name, name, true, writable,
+    qmp_nbd_server_add(device, !!name, name, false, NULL, true, writable,
                        false, NULL, &local_err);
     hmp_handle_error(mon, &local_err);
 }
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/223 b/tests/qemu-iotests/223
index b5a80e50bbc1..c708e479325e 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/223
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/223
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ _send_qemu_cmd $QEMU_HANDLE '{"execute":"nbd-server-add",
   "bitmap":"b3"}}' "error" # Missing bitmap
 _send_qemu_cmd $QEMU_HANDLE '{"execute":"nbd-server-add",
   "arguments":{"device":"n", "name":"n2", "writable":true,
-  "bitmap":"b2"}}' "return"
+  "description":"some text", "bitmap":"b2"}}' "return"
 $QEMU_NBD_PROG -L -k "$SOCK_DIR/nbd"

 echo
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/223.out b/tests/qemu-iotests/223.out
index 23b34fcd202e..16d597585b4f 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/223.out
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/223.out
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ exports available: 2
    base:allocation
    qemu:dirty-bitmap:b
  export: 'n2'
+  description: some text
   size:  4194304
   flags: 0xced ( flush fua trim zeroes df cache fast-zero )
   min block: 1
