--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/README.rst	Wed Jul 18 20:46:04 2018 -0700
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+
+SiloRider
+=========
+
+SiloRider is a command-line utility that lets you implement the `POSSE`_ model
+on a website. This is how it works:
+
+- It reads your website's main page (or whatever URL you supply) and looks for
+  `Microformats`_ markup.
+- It reads a configuration file where you describe which "silos" (*i.e.*
+  external services) you want to post your content to.
+- It reads a local cache file to figure out which content has already been
+  posted where, so it only posts new content.
+- It actually posts that content to each silo.
+
+
+Supported Silos
+---------------
+
+Right now, the following silos are supported:
+
+- `Mastodon`_: an open, federated microblogging service.
+- Print: a debug silo that just prints entries in the console.
+
+
+Quickstart
+----------
+
+SiloRider will need to read a configuration file in `INI`_ format. The minimum requirement is to define at least one "silo" using a ``silo:<name>`` section::
+
+    [silo:my_mastodon]
+    type: mastodon
+    url: https://mastodon.social
+
+This defines one Mastodon silo to which you want to post your entries.
+
+You can then run::
+
+    silorider auth my_mastodon 
+
+This command will authenticate your Mastodon account and provide SiloRider with the permission to post to your timeline. The authorization tokens are stored in a cache file that defaults to ``silorider.db``, next to the configuration file. Later, this cache will also contain the list of entries already posted to each silo.
+
+Once authenticated, you can run::
+
+    silorider populate https://yourwebsite
+
+This will populate the cache with the existing entries, since you probably don't want the first run of SiloRider to cross-post your last dozen or so entries in one go.
+
+Later, when you post something new, you can then run::
+
+    silorider process https://yourwebsite
+
+This will pick up the new entries and post them to Mastodon. You can run this command again regularly... if there's something new, SiloRider will cross-post it to the configured silos. If not, it will just exit.
+
+
+.. _POSSE: https://indieweb.org/POSSE
+.. _Microformats: http://microformats.org/
+.. _Mastodon: https://joinmastodon.org/
+.. _INI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INI_file
+