diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 011af69..e4cc547 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -55,9 +55,15 @@ above by running `sudo make dependencies`.
 
 ## compilation
 
-    sudo make dependencies
-    make
-    sudo make install
+chicken scheme runs faster if it's compiled to a binary file. by default, the
+binary is named `repo2html`, and is added to `/usr/local/bin`.
+
+to compile repo2html into a binary file, follow the steps below:
+
+1. ensure you're in the repo2html git repository
+2. run `make dependencies` as root
+3. run `make`
+4. run `make install` as root
 
 ## server setup
 
@@ -65,11 +71,21 @@ TODO (git user, ssh, ufw ports, web directory, git-daemon, mkdir /home/git/proje
 
 ## usage
 
-TODO: just talk about how the post-receive hook works. shouldn't be too long
+after you've set up your server and set your remote git url on your local
+machine, you can use `git push` to push updates to your projects, and the
+`post-receive` hook will generate an html version of your git repository.
 
 ## configuration
 
-TODO: describe environment variables in post-receive hook
+you can configure repo2html by changing environment variables in the `post-receive` hook file.
+
+refer to the list of environment variable names and their descriptions to learn more:
+
+- `GIT_WWW`: the web directory where repo2html generates static git repositories. for example, `/var/www/git/`.
+- `GIT_WWW_CLONE_URL`: the url that people will use when downloading your git repository. if you have git-daemon set up, then you can prefix the url with `git://`. otherwise, prefix the url with `http://`. for example, `git://git.example.com`. **note**: avoid a trailing slash in the url.
+- `GIT_WWW_TITLE`: the text that populates the `<title>` html tag.
+- `GIT_WWW_DESCRIPTION`: a string that populates the `description` meta information about your git repository.
+- `GIT_WWW_H1`: the text that populates the `<h1>` html tag.
 
 ## todos