diff --git a/doc/Nodes.md b/doc/Nodes.md
index 9b59dfbf7..12da03b73 100644
--- a/doc/Nodes.md
+++ b/doc/Nodes.md
@@ -27,4 +27,7 @@ Every node is an instance of a node-type. VILLASnode currently supports the foll
  - NI LabView RT-targets
  
 #### @subpage cbuilder
-- RTDS CBuilder Control System components
\ No newline at end of file
+- RTDS CBuilder Control System components
+
+#### @subpage shmem
+- POSIX shared memory interface
diff --git a/doc/nodes/Shmem.md b/doc/nodes/Shmem.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0faea2ec5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/nodes/Shmem.md
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+# Shared memory {#shmem}
+
+The `shmem` node-type can be used to quickly exchange samples with a process on the same host using a POSIX shared memory object.
+
+## Configuration
+
+The only required configuration option is the `name` option; all others are optional with reasonable defaults.
+
+#### `name` (string)
+
+Name of the POSIX shared memory object. Must start with a forward slash (`/`).
+The same name should be passed to the external program somehow in its
+configuration or command-line arguments.
+
+#### `queuelen` (int)
+
+Length of the input and output queues in elements. Defaults to `DEFAULT_SHMEM_QUEUELEN`,
+a compile-time constant.
+
+#### `samplelen` (int)
+
+Maximum number of data elements in a single `struct sample` for the samples handled
+by this node. Defaults to `DEFAULT_SHMEM_SAMPLELEN`, a compile-time constant.
+
+#### `polling` (boolean)
+
+If set to false, POSIX condition variables are used to signal writes between processes.
+If set to true, no CV's are used, meaning that blocking writes have to be
+implemented using polling, leading to performance improvements at a cost of
+unnecessary CPU usage. Defaults to false.
+
+#### `exec` (array of strings)
+
+Optional name and command-line arguments (as passed to `execve`) of a command
+to be executed during node startup. This can be used to start the external
+program directly from VILLASNode. If unset, no command is executed.
+
+## API for external programs
+
+The actual sharing of data is implemented by putting two shared `struct queue`s
+(one per direction) and an associated `struct pool` in the shared memory region.
+Samples can be exchanged by simply writing to and reading from these queues.
+
+External programs that want to use this interface can link against
+`libvillas-ext.so`. This library provides a subset of the functions from
+`libvillas.so` that can be used to access and modify the shared data structures.
+
+The interface for external programs is very simple: after opening the shared
+memory object with `shmem_shared_open` (passing the object name from the
+configuration file), samples can be read from and written to VILLASNode using
+`shmem_shared_read` and `shmem_shared_write`, respectively. Samples written to
+the node must be allocated by `sample_alloc` from the shared pool; samples read
+from the node should be freed with `sample_put` after they have been processed.
+See the [example client](test-shmem_8c_source.html) and the [API
+documentation](group__shmem.html) for more details.
diff --git a/include/villas/nodes/shmem.h b/include/villas/nodes/shmem.h
index dfa4d9692..ddfa278f4 100644
--- a/include/villas/nodes/shmem.h
+++ b/include/villas/nodes/shmem.h
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 
 /**
  * @ingroup node
- * @addtogroup shmem Shared memory interface
+ * @addtogroup shmem_node Shared memory node type
  * @{
  */
 
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@
 #define DEFAULT_SHMEM_QUEUELEN	512
 #define DEFAULT_SHMEM_SAMPLELEN	DEFAULT_SAMPLELEN
 
+/** Node-type for shared memory communication.
+ * @see node_type
+ */
 struct shmem {
 	const char* name;		/**< Name of the shm object. */
 	int samplelen;			/**< Number of data entries for each sample. */
@@ -47,4 +50,4 @@ int shmem_read(struct node *n, struct sample *smps[], unsigned cnt);
 
 int shmem_write(struct node *n, struct sample *smps[], unsigned cnt);
 
-/** @} */
\ No newline at end of file
+/** @} */
diff --git a/include/villas/shmem.h b/include/villas/shmem.h
index ce88a9fa8..271654495 100644
--- a/include/villas/shmem.h
+++ b/include/villas/shmem.h
@@ -5,6 +5,12 @@
  * @copyright 2017, Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems, EONERC
  *********************************************************************************/
 
+/** Interface to the shared memory node for external programs.
+ *
+ * @addtogroup shmem Shared memory interface
+ * @{
+ */
+
 #pragma once
 
 #include "pool.h"
@@ -37,28 +43,34 @@ struct shmem_shared {
 /** Open the shared memory object and retrieve / initialize the shared data structures.
  * @param[in] name Name of the POSIX shared memory object.
  * @param[inout] base_ptr The base address of the shared memory region is written to this pointer.
- * @retval A valid shmem_shared* on success, or NULL with errno indicating the error on failure.
+ * @retval NULL An error occurred; errno is set appropiately.
  */
 struct shmem_shared * shmem_shared_open(const char* name, void **base_ptr);
 
 /** Close and destroy the shared memory object and related structures.
- * @param[shm] The shared memory structure.
- * @param[base] The base address as returned by shmem_shared_open.
+ * @param shm The shared memory structure.
+ * @param base The base address as returned by shmem_shared_open.
+ * @retval 0 Closing successfull.
+ * @retval <0 An error occurred; errno is set appropiately.
  */
 int shmem_shared_close(struct shmem_shared *shm, void *base);
 
 /** Read samples from VILLASNode.
- * @param[shm] The shared memory structure.
- * @param[smps] An array where the pointers to the samples will be written. The samples
+ * @param shm The shared memory structure.
+ * @param smps  An array where the pointers to the samples will be written. The samples
  * must be freed with sample_put after use.
- * @param[cnt] Number of samples to be read.
+ * @param cnt  Number of samples to be read.
+ * @retval >=0 Number of samples that were read. Can be less than cnt (including 0) in case not enough samples were available.
+ * @retval -1 VILLASNode exited; no samples can be read anymore.
  */
 int shmem_shared_read(struct shmem_shared *shm, struct sample *smps[], unsigned cnt);
 
 /** Write samples to VILLASNode.
- * @param[shm] The shared memory structure.
- * @param[smps] The samples to be written. Must be allocated from shm->pool.
- * @param[cnt] Number of samples to write.
+ * @param shm The shared memory structure.
+ * @param smps The samples to be written. Must be allocated from shm->pool.
+ * @param cnt Number of samples to write.
+ * @retval >=0 Number of samples that were successfully written. Can be less than cnt (including 0) in case of a full queue.
+ * @retval -1 VILLASNode exited; no samples can be written anymore.
  */
 int shmem_shared_write(struct shmem_shared *shm, struct sample *smps[], unsigned cnt);
 
@@ -66,3 +78,5 @@ int shmem_shared_write(struct shmem_shared *shm, struct sample *smps[], unsigned
  * the input/output queues (in elements) and the given number of data elements
  * per struct sample. */
 size_t shmem_total_size(int insize, int outsize, int sample_size);
+
+/** @} */
diff --git a/lib/nodes/shmem.c b/lib/nodes/shmem.c
index e6ff1d916..4b4f9cb3c 100644
--- a/lib/nodes/shmem.c
+++ b/lib/nodes/shmem.c
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 /** Node-type for shared memory communication.
  *
+ * @file
  * @author Georg Martin Reinke <georg.reinke@rwth-aachen.de>
  * @copyright 2017, Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems, EONERC
  *********************************************************************************/
@@ -159,7 +160,7 @@ int shmem_read(struct node *n, struct sample *smps[], unsigned cnt)
 int shmem_write(struct node *n, struct sample *smps[], unsigned cnt)
 {
 	struct shmem *shm = n->_vd;
-	struct sample *shared_smps[cnt]; /**< Samples need to be copied to the shared pool first */
+	struct sample *shared_smps[cnt]; /* Samples need to be copied to the shared pool first */
 	int avail, pushed, len;
 	
 	avail = sample_alloc(&shm->shared->pool, shared_smps, cnt);