diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index af40924..6138a77 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -4,28 +4,54 @@ a post-receive hook that generates an html view of a git repository.
 
 ## features
 
-TODO
+- static html files
+- no background process other than git-daemon
+- default repository view is an html-rendered README.md file
 
 ## caveats
 
-TODO
+- binary file contents are just... shown
+- images don't render
+- directory tree is shown as a flat list of files, so git repositories with
+  many files and directories will look awful
+- no commit log (yet?)
+- no line numbers (yet?)
 
 ## disclaimer
 
-TODO
+no one is liable if this software breaks, deletes, corrupts, or ruins anything
 
 ## requirements
 
 - [chicken scheme](https://call-cc.org/)
 - [utf8 egg](https://wiki.call-cc.org/eggref/5/utf8)
 - [lowdown egg](https://wiki.call-cc.org/eggref/5/lowdown)
+- git
 
 **note**: if you have chicken scheme installed, then you can install the eggs
 above by running `sudo make dependencies`.
 
 ## quickstart
 
-TODO
+    on your server, run the following commands, changing anything occurs between angled brackets ("<" and ">"):
+    adduser git
+    mkdir /var/www/git
+    chown git:git /var/www/git
+    cp git-daemon.service /etc/systemd/system/
+    ufw allow 9418
+    systemctl enable --now git-daemon.service
+    su - git
+    mkdir projects
+    clone this repository
+    cd into this repository
+    sudo make dependencies
+    make
+    sudo make install
+    edit the post-receive file
+    cp post-receive <path/to/bare/git/repository>/hooks/
+    chmod u+x <path/to/bare/git/repository>/hooks/post-receive
+    then in a git repository on your local machine, run git remote add origin git@<example.com>:~/projects/<repository-name>
+    git push
 
 ## compilation
 
@@ -39,11 +65,11 @@ TODO (git user, ssh, ufw ports, web directory, git-daemon, mkdir /home/git/proje
 
 ## usage
 
-TODO
+TODO: just talk about how the post-receive hook works. shouldn't be too long
 
 ## configuration
 
-TODO
+TODO: describe environment variables in post-receive hook
 
 ## todos
 
diff --git a/post-receive b/post-receive
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f07d1b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/post-receive
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# - place this file in the 'hooks' directory of a bare git repository
+# - this assumes that repo2html is in your path
+
+export GIT_WWW=/var/www/git/
+export GIT_WWW_CLONE_URL=git://git.example.com
+export GIT_WWW_TITLE=git.example.com
+export GIT_WWW_DESCRIPTION="sherry's git repositories"
+export GIT_WWW_H1=git.example.com
+repo2html
diff --git a/post-receive.sample b/post-receive.sample
deleted file mode 100755
index f6c3a81..0000000
--- a/post-receive.sample
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-
-# place this file in the 'hooks' directory of a bare git repository
-# this assumes that repo2html is in your path
-
-export GIT_WWW=/var/www/git/
-export GIT_WWW_CLONE_URL=git://git.m455.casa
-export GIT_WWW_TITLE=git.m455.casa
-export GIT_WWW_DESCRIPTION="m455's git repositories"
-export GIT_WWW_H1=git.m455.casa
-repo2html