diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f74aa9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+# um
+
+An (U)ltralight database for (M)arkdown composition.
+
+`um` is an ultralight database design and emacs toolkit for organizing writing into larger compositions. It uses only unique filenames, POSIX filesystem conventions, the builtin emacs `project` package, and standard POSIX commandline tools to build out the CLI.
+
+It consists of two parts:
+
+1. Elisp for functionality within emacs. Most of it is integrated directly with the `project` interface, and consists the ability to find a file from a filename.
+
+2. Bash scripts for the commandline interface. I prefer a CLI for file creation and management rather than more emacs functions, because chaining shell commands is easy and I think of the commandline as the point of reference for all filesystem management.
+
+Conceptually, `um` is somewhat like org-roam, except without any database dependency. (And it assumes Markdown rather than org, which I don't care for.)
+
+The "database" depends on a few simple ideas:
+
+1. A numbered filename specification which serves as unique id. The files are their own representation.
+
+2. Placing that same id into the file header, so that concatenated files have reference back to their source. See the `um cat` command.
+
+3. Using a source "journal/" directory, where source files should first be composed and where we can assume a file exists if not elsewhere.
+
+4. Using the built-in emacs `project` package to organize compositions built from these source files.
+
+## config
+
+My config looks like this:
+
+```elisp
+(use-package um
+  :after (project embark)
+
+  :config
+  (defalias 'journal 'uldb-journal-header)
+
+  (advice-add 'embark-target-file-at-point :around 'uldb-file-at-point-advice)
+
+  :load-path "~/dev/um/elisp"
+)
+```
diff --git a/bash/next/next.sh b/bash/next/next.sh
index b9359e7..dd69135 100755
--- a/bash/next/next.sh
+++ b/bash/next/next.sh
@@ -111,4 +111,4 @@ print finalstr
 }'
 `
 
-emacsclient --eval "(progn (find-file \"$NEXTFILE\") (journal) (message \"creating $NEXTFILE\"))"
+emacsclient --eval "(progn (find-file \"$NEXTFILE\") (uldb-journal-header) (message \"creating $NEXTFILE\"))"
diff --git a/elisp/um.el b/elisp/um.el
index e53189a..38e429b 100644
--- a/elisp/um.el
+++ b/elisp/um.el
@@ -27,15 +27,13 @@
 ;; 4. Using the built-in `project' package to organize compositions built from
 ;; these source files.
 
-;; 5. (Optional) Use `embark' to visit files with a single keystroke.
-
 ;; features provided:
 ;; `um-journal-header' defines the standard header
 
 ;; `um-project-find-meta' via `project-switch-project': open a file like
 ;; *meta.md in a given project.
 
-;; `um-file-at-point-advice' via `embark-dwim': open file in known projects
+;; (Optional) `um-file-at-point-advice' via `embark-dwim': open file in known projects
 ;; with fallback to journal/
 
 ;; `um-grep-tag': search files with same tag