diff --git a/box.json.dist b/box.json.dist
index 987325ce..d1a9f091 100644
--- a/box.json.dist
+++ b/box.json.dist
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
     "main": "bin/roave-backward-compatibility-check.php",
     "output": "dist/roave-backward-compatibility-check.phar",
     "files-bin": [
+        "resources/schema.xsd",
         "LICENSE",
         "vendor/composer/composer/LICENSE"
     ],
diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index aaae80ef..85364649 100644
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -3,7 +3,10 @@
     "description": "Tool to compare two revisions of a public API to check for BC breaks",
     "require": {
         "php": "~8.1.0 || ~8.2.0",
+        "ext-dom": "*",
         "ext-json": "*",
+        "ext-libxml": "*",
+        "ext-simplexml": "*",
         "azjezz/psl": "^2.3.1",
         "composer/composer": "^2.5.1",
         "nikic/php-parser": "^4.15.3",
diff --git a/composer.lock b/composer.lock
index 79732ee0..d7c4172c 100644
--- a/composer.lock
+++ b/composer.lock
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
         "Read more about it at https://getcomposer.org/doc/01-basic-usage.md#installing-dependencies",
         "This file is @generated automatically"
     ],
-    "content-hash": "3e7bc55a493461b07c54b86cef013320",
+    "content-hash": "afaf26813115656f49a708d620d8f393",
     "packages": [
         {
             "name": "azjezz/psl",
@@ -6961,7 +6961,10 @@
     "prefer-lowest": false,
     "platform": {
         "php": "~8.1.0 || ~8.2.0",
-        "ext-json": "*"
+        "ext-dom": "*",
+        "ext-json": "*",
+        "ext-libxml": "*",
+        "ext-simplexml": "*"
     },
     "platform-dev": [],
     "platform-overrides": {
diff --git a/resources/schema.xsd b/resources/schema.xsd
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..14cc97f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/resources/schema.xsd
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
+    <xs:annotation>
+        <xs:appinfo source="https://github.com/Roave/BackwardCompatibilityCheck"/>
+
+        <xs:documentation source="https://github.com/Roave/BackwardCompatibilityCheck">
+            This schema file defines the structure for the XML configuration file of roave/backward-compatibility-check.
+        </xs:documentation>
+    </xs:annotation>
+
+    <xs:element name="roave-bc-check" type="bcCheckType" />
+
+    <xs:complexType name="bcCheckType">
+        <xs:sequence>
+            <xs:element name="baseline" type="baselineType" minOccurs="0" />
+        </xs:sequence>
+    </xs:complexType>
+
+    <xs:complexType name="baselineType">
+        <xs:sequence>
+            <xs:element name="ignored-regex" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded" type="xs:string" />
+        </xs:sequence>
+    </xs:complexType>
+</xs:schema>
diff --git a/src/Configuration/InvalidConfigurationStructure.php b/src/Configuration/InvalidConfigurationStructure.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8365351f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Configuration/InvalidConfigurationStructure.php
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+<?php
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace Roave\BackwardCompatibility\Configuration;
+
+use LibXMLError;
+use RuntimeException;
+
+use function sprintf;
+use function trim;
+
+use const PHP_EOL;
+
+/** @internal */
+final class InvalidConfigurationStructure extends RuntimeException
+{
+    /** @param list<LibXMLError> $errors */
+    public static function fromLibxmlErrors(array $errors): self
+    {
+        $message = 'The provided configuration is invalid, errors:' . PHP_EOL;
+
+        foreach ($errors as $error) {
+            $message .= sprintf(
+                ' - [Line %d] %s' . PHP_EOL,
+                $error->line,
+                trim($error->message),
+            );
+        }
+
+        return new self($message);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/Configuration/ParseConfigurationFile.php b/src/Configuration/ParseConfigurationFile.php
index 4717b848..ffc3723d 100644
--- a/src/Configuration/ParseConfigurationFile.php
+++ b/src/Configuration/ParseConfigurationFile.php
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 <?php
+
 declare(strict_types=1);
 
 namespace Roave\BackwardCompatibility\Configuration;
 
 interface ParseConfigurationFile
 {
+    /** @throws InvalidConfigurationStructure When an incorrect file was found on the directory. */
     public function parse(string $currentDirectory): Configuration;
 }
diff --git a/src/Configuration/ParseXmlConfigurationFile.php b/src/Configuration/ParseXmlConfigurationFile.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..08b66ce5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Configuration/ParseXmlConfigurationFile.php
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+<?php
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace Roave\BackwardCompatibility\Configuration;
+
+use DOMDocument;
+use Psl\File;
+use Roave\BackwardCompatibility\Baseline;
+use SimpleXMLElement;
+
+use function array_values;
+use function libxml_get_errors;
+use function libxml_use_internal_errors;
+
+/** @internal */
+final class ParseXmlConfigurationFile implements ParseConfigurationFile
+{
+    private const CONFIGURATION_FILENAME = '.roave-backward-compatibility-check.xml';
+
+    private const SCHEMA = __DIR__ . '/../../resources/schema.xsd';
+
+    public function parse(string $currentDirectory): Configuration
+    {
+        $filename = $currentDirectory . '/' . self::CONFIGURATION_FILENAME;
+
+        try {
+            $xmlContents = File\read($filename);
+
+            $this->validateStructure($xmlContents);
+        } catch (File\Exception\InvalidArgumentException) {
+            return Configuration::default();
+        }
+
+        $configuration = new SimpleXMLElement($xmlContents);
+
+        return Configuration::fromFile(
+            $this->parseBaseline($configuration),
+            $filename,
+        );
+    }
+
+    private function validateStructure(string $xmlContents): void
+    {
+        $previousConfiguration = libxml_use_internal_errors(true);
+
+        $xmlDocument = new DOMDocument();
+        $xmlDocument->loadXML($xmlContents);
+
+        $configurationIsValid = $xmlDocument->schemaValidate(self::SCHEMA);
+
+        $parsingErrors = array_values(libxml_get_errors());
+        libxml_use_internal_errors($previousConfiguration);
+
+        if ($configurationIsValid) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        throw InvalidConfigurationStructure::fromLibxmlErrors($parsingErrors);
+    }
+
+    private function parseBaseline(SimpleXMLElement $element): Baseline
+    {
+        $ignoredItems = [];
+
+        foreach ($element->xpath('baseline/ignored-regex') ?? [] as $node) {
+            $ignoredItems[] = (string) $node;
+        }
+
+        return Baseline::fromList(...$ignoredItems);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/test/unit/Configuration/ParseXmlConfigurationFileTest.php b/test/unit/Configuration/ParseXmlConfigurationFileTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..661fb51a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/Configuration/ParseXmlConfigurationFileTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,193 @@
+<?php
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace RoaveTest\BackwardCompatibility\Configuration;
+
+use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
+use Psl\Env;
+use Psl\File;
+use Psl\Filesystem;
+use Psl\Shell;
+use Roave\BackwardCompatibility\Baseline;
+use Roave\BackwardCompatibility\Configuration\Configuration;
+use Roave\BackwardCompatibility\Configuration\InvalidConfigurationStructure;
+use Roave\BackwardCompatibility\Configuration\ParseXmlConfigurationFile;
+
+final class ParseXmlConfigurationFileTest extends TestCase
+{
+    private string $temporaryDirectory;
+
+    /** @before */
+    public function prepareFilesystem(): void
+    {
+        $this->temporaryDirectory = Filesystem\create_temporary_file(
+            Env\temp_dir(),
+            'roave-backward-compatibility-xml-config-test',
+        );
+
+        self::assertNotEmpty($this->temporaryDirectory);
+        self::assertFileExists($this->temporaryDirectory);
+
+        Filesystem\delete_file($this->temporaryDirectory);
+        Filesystem\create_directory($this->temporaryDirectory);
+    }
+
+    /** @after */
+    public function cleanUpFilesystem(): void
+    {
+        Shell\execute('rm', ['-rf', $this->temporaryDirectory]);
+    }
+
+    /** @test */
+    public function defaultConfigurationShouldBeUsedWhenFileDoesNotExist(): void
+    {
+        $config = (new ParseXmlConfigurationFile())->parse($this->temporaryDirectory);
+
+        self::assertEquals(Configuration::default(), $config);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @test
+     * @dataProvider invalidConfiguration
+     */
+    public function exceptionShouldBeRaisedWhenStructureIsInvalid(
+        string $xmlContents,
+        string $expectedError,
+    ): void {
+        File\write($this->temporaryDirectory . '/.roave-backward-compatibility-check.xml', $xmlContents);
+
+        $this->expectException(InvalidConfigurationStructure::class);
+        $this->expectExceptionMessage($expectedError);
+
+        (new ParseXmlConfigurationFile())->parse($this->temporaryDirectory);
+    }
+
+    /** @return iterable<string, array{string, string}> */
+    public static function invalidConfiguration(): iterable
+    {
+        yield 'invalid root element' => [
+            <<<'XML'
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
+<anything />
+XML,
+            '[Line 2] Element \'anything\': No matching global declaration available for the validation root',
+        ];
+
+        yield 'invalid root child' => [
+            <<<'XML'
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
+<roave-bc-check>
+    <something />
+</roave-bc-check>
+XML,
+            '[Line 3] Element \'something\': This element is not expected. Expected is ( baseline )',
+        ];
+
+        yield 'multiple baseline tags' => [
+            <<<'XML'
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
+<roave-bc-check>
+    <baseline />
+    <baseline />
+</roave-bc-check>
+XML,
+            '[Line 4] Element \'baseline\': This element is not expected',
+        ];
+
+        yield 'invalid baseline child' => [
+            <<<'XML'
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
+<roave-bc-check>
+    <baseline>
+        <nothing />
+    </baseline>
+</roave-bc-check>
+XML,
+            '[Line 4] Element \'nothing\': This element is not expected. Expected is ( ignored-regex )',
+        ];
+
+        yield 'invalid ignored item type' => [
+            <<<'XML'
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
+<roave-bc-check>
+    <baseline>
+        <ignored-regex>
+            <something-else />            
+        </ignored-regex>
+    </baseline>
+</roave-bc-check>
+XML,
+            '[Line 4] Element \'ignored-regex\': Element content is not allowed, because the type definition is simple',
+        ];
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @test
+     * @dataProvider validConfiguration
+     */
+    public function baselineShouldBeParsed(
+        string $xmlContents,
+        Baseline $expectedBaseline,
+    ): void {
+        File\write($this->temporaryDirectory . '/.roave-backward-compatibility-check.xml', $xmlContents);
+
+        self::assertEquals(
+            Configuration::fromFile(
+                $expectedBaseline,
+                $this->temporaryDirectory . '/.roave-backward-compatibility-check.xml',
+            ),
+            (new ParseXmlConfigurationFile())->parse($this->temporaryDirectory),
+        );
+    }
+
+    /** @return iterable<string, array{string, Baseline}> */
+    public static function validConfiguration(): iterable
+    {
+        yield 'no baseline' => [
+            <<<'XML'
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
+<roave-bc-check />
+XML,
+            Baseline::empty(),
+        ];
+
+        yield 'empty baseline' => [
+            <<<'XML'
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
+<roave-bc-check>
+    <baseline />
+</roave-bc-check>
+XML,
+            Baseline::empty(),
+        ];
+
+        yield 'baseline with single element' => [
+            <<<'XML'
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
+<roave-bc-check>
+    <baseline>
+        <ignored-regex>#\[BC\] CHANGED: The parameter \$a of TestArtifact\\TheClass\#method.*#</ignored-regex>
+    </baseline>
+</roave-bc-check>
+XML,
+            Baseline::fromList('#\[BC\] CHANGED: The parameter \$a of TestArtifact\\\\TheClass\#method.*#'),
+        ];
+
+        yield 'baseline with multiple elements' => [
+            <<<'XML'
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
+<roave-bc-check>
+    <baseline>
+        <ignored-regex>#\[BC\] CHANGED: The parameter \$a of TestArtifact\\TheClass\#method.*#</ignored-regex>
+        <ignored-regex>#\[BC\] ADDED: Method .*\(\) was added to interface TestArtifact\\TheInterface.*#</ignored-regex>
+    </baseline>
+</roave-bc-check>
+XML,
+            Baseline::fromList(
+                '#\[BC\] CHANGED: The parameter \$a of TestArtifact\\\\TheClass\#method.*#',
+                '#\[BC\] ADDED: Method .*\(\) was added to interface TestArtifact\\\\TheInterface.*#',
+            ),
+        ];
+    }
+}