diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 71b8511..ce1b56d 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+.DS_Store
 node_modules
-**/*/.DS_store
+**/*/.DS_Store
 data
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4278812..936b6ba 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1 +1,30 @@
 # openroads-vn-boundaries
+
+a pipeline to take vietnam admin unit shapefiles and insert them as postgis tables into openroads-vn-api's database
+
+### install
+
+`$ yarn install`
+
+### configuration
+
+#### data
+
+create a folder `./data/input` and add in the necessary `vietnam-communes.shp` file and its related files
+
+#### database
+
+add a a file `./db/local/index.js` of the following spec
+
+```javascript
+module.exports = {
+  connection: {
+    development: `development.db.url`,
+    production:  `production.db.url`
+  }
+}
+```
+
+# run
+
+`yarn run start`