diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..572b26f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# Notes template repository
+
+This repo can be used as a starting point for using foam for note taking with automatic git backups on save.
+
+## Getting started
+
+Fork this repo and open with vscode, install recommended plugins and create your first .md file, save and it should automatically commit and upload to your repo.
+
+## Advanced setup
+
+This repo is direnv/flake enabled and allows you to automatically pull in dependencies for your notes. For example you can pull in python and pandas to use with vscode jupyter integration.
\ No newline at end of file