diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..eb4dc79d5c0d878ad73f902426e640c7e21d51ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+# Netzschleuder
+
+Netzschleuder is a network data catalogue and repository.
+
+The code here can be used to fully replicate the 'official' instance at
+<https://networks.skewed.de>, including the upstream data downloading,
+parsing and processing.
+
+## Dependencies
+
+The following Python packages are needed to use this code:
+
+* [graph-tool](https://graph-tool.skewed.de)
+* [flask](https://flask.palletsprojects.com)
+* [pillow](https://pillow.readthedocs.io)
+* [google-api-python-client](https://github.com/googleapis/google-api-python-client)
+* [google-auth-oauthlib](https://google-auth-oauthlib.readthedocs.io)
+* [python-zstandard](https://python-zstandard.readthedocs.io)
+* [openpyxl](https://openpyxl.readthedocs.io)
+* [pandas](https://pandas.pydata.org)
+
+To render the website you need the following stored inside the
+``./static`` directory:
+
+* [ink](http://ink.sapo.pt)
+* [mathjax](https://www.mathjax.org)
+
+## Usage
+
+The full repository is populated by running simply: 
+```
+./do_all.py
+```
+
+The above command takes an optional space-separate list of entries as
+arguments, in which case only the specified entries are processed.
+
+The processing pipeline consists of the steps ``fetch``, ``parse``,
+``convert``, ``analyze``, and ``draw`` taken in sequence. Each of these
+steps can also be run in isolation by running the corresponding python
+script, e.g. ``fetch.py``.
+
+The processed results will be stored inside a ``cache`` sub-directory. A
+local version of the website can be run by evoking ``./net_site.py``.
+
+### Google drive authentication
+
+Some entries require the use of google drive API for fetching. You will
+need authenticate with a google account the first time you run the above
+scripts, and your credentials will be stored in a local file.
+
+## License
+
+Netzschleuder is free software, you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 3 or
+above. See COPYING for details.
+
+This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.