diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 01c9737..8a80935 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ License: MIT + file LICENSE
 URL: https://altdoc.etiennebacher.com, https://github.com/etiennebacher/altdoc
 BugReports: https://github.com/etiennebacher/altdoc/issues
 Imports: 
+    brio,
     cli,
     desc,
     evaluate,
diff --git a/R/import_readme.R b/R/import_readme.R
index e6872d7..a57b2f9 100644
--- a/R/import_readme.R
+++ b/R/import_readme.R
@@ -26,13 +26,6 @@
     "md"
   }
 
-  if (readme_type != "qmd" && tool == "quarto_website") {
-    cli::cli_abort(
-      "Quarto websites require a README.qmd file in the root of the package directory.",
-      call = NULL
-    )
-  }
-
   src_file <- fs::path_join(
     c(src_dir, grep(paste0("\\.", readme_type, "$"), readme_files, ignore.case = TRUE, value = TRUE))
   )
@@ -67,14 +60,6 @@
     "qmd" = {
         pre <- fs::path_join(c(src_dir, "altdoc/preamble_vignettes_qmd.yml"))
         pre <- tryCatch(.readlines(pre), warning = function(w) NULL, error = function(e) NULL)
-        # copy to quarto file
-        if (tool == "quarto_website") {
-          fs::file_copy(
-            src_file,
-            fs::path_join(c(tar_dir, "index.qmd")),
-            overwrite = TRUE
-          )
-        }
         # process in-place for use on Github
         # TODO: preambles inserted in the README often break Quarto websites. It's
         # not a big problem to omit the preamble, but it would be good to
@@ -87,16 +72,19 @@
     }
   )
 
-  if (tool == "quarto_website") {
-    tar_file <- fs::path_join(c(tar_dir, "index.md"))
-  } else {
-    tar_file <- fs::path_join(c(tar_dir, "README.md"))
-  }
-
+  tar_file <- fs::path_join(c(tar_dir, "README.md"))
   src_file <- fs::path_join(c(src_dir, "README.md"))
   fs::file_copy(src_file, tar_file, overwrite = TRUE)
   .check_md_structure(tar_file)
 
+  # Add the index page which includes README.md
+  if (tool == "quarto_website") {
+    brio::write_lines(
+      "{{< include README.md >}}",
+      fs::path_join(c(tar_dir, "index.md"))
+    )
+  }
+
   tmp <- fs::path_join(c(src_dir, "README.markdown_strict_files"))
   if (fs::dir_exists(tmp)) {
     cli::cli_alert("We recommend using a `knitr` option to set the path of your images to `man/figures/README-`. This would ensure that images are properly stored and displayed on multiple platforms like CRAN, Github, and on your `altdoc` website.")