diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index 2e00eca..e24fde7 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -1,2 +1,26 @@
 itslog
 ======
+
+`itslog` is a simple logging system. You can send it a payload that looks like
+this:
+
+    {
+        "level" : 1,
+        "namespace": "ren.stimpy",
+        "payload": {
+            "type": "arbitrary object"
+        }
+    }
+
+and `itslog` will gracefully shove it into a postgres database for future
+retrieval. It is literally the simplest program of this variety one could
+possibly imagine.
+
+future work
+-----------
+
+implement a (very simple) query api, supporting filtering based on:
+
+- log level
+- namespace
+- date range