add a readme

1 files changed, 45 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..078e7ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+# dots: a kawaii dotfiles manager ✧˖°˖✧
+
+dots is a cute dotfiles manager with jinja2 templating and gnu stow integration (=^･ω･^=)
+
+it makes your configuration files more organized and portable by combining templating with symlink management. `dots` handles system-specific configurations through context variables in one json file, so you can maintain a single set of dotfiles across different machines. 
+
+## installation
+
+```bash
+git clone ssh://src.liz.coffee:2222/dotfiles
+cd dotfiles
+
+python -m venv .venv
+source .venv/bin/activate
+pip install -e .
+
+dots --help
+```
+
+## requirements (=・ｪ・=)
+
+- python 3.8+ and 
+- gnu stow (`brew install stow` on macos, defs in other package managers)
+
+## usage
+
+```bash
+# compile your dotfiles templates
+dots --compile
+
+# stow them to your home directory
+dots --stow
+
+# remove the symlinks
+dots --clean
+
+# in case something breaks
+dots --compile --stow --clean --verbose
+```
+
+dots will look for templates in the `dots/` directory and process any files with the `.j2` extension. system and platform detection happens automatically through the scripts in `dots/home/scripts/`.
+
+## license
+
+mit (￣▽￣)ノ