diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1f2a8fc..541e60f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,3 +1,35 @@
 # quotes-bot-python
 
-WIP rewrite of n/quotes-bot in Python with https://codeberg.org/imbev/simplematrixbotlib.
\ No newline at end of file
+WIP rewrite of n/quotes-bot in Python with https://codeberg.org/imbev/simplematrixbotlib.
+
+## Setup
+
+First, make and activate a venv. There are plenty of guides online, however it usually goes like this:
+```sh
+python3 -m virtualenv venv && source venv/bin/activate.fish
+```
+If you use bash, you can replace `source venv/bin/activate.fish` with just `source venv/bin/activate`.
+
+#### Dependencies
+
+This bot depends on `simplematrixbotlib`, which can be installed in your venv like this:
+```sh
+pip install simplematrixbotlib
+```
+
+#### Configuring
+
+> TODO: write docs about the config file
+
+First, copy the sample config:
+```sh
+cp config.sample.json config.json
+```
+Then edit it:
+```sh
+$EDITOR config.json
+```
+You should be good to go! To run it, run this in the venv:
+```sh
+python bot.py
+```
diff --git a/config.sample.json b/config.sample.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ef0f98f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config.sample.json
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+{
+  "matrix": {
+    "server": "https://example.com",
+    "userid": "@quotes:example.com",
+    "password": "hunter2"
+  }
+}