Write README

README.md

@@ -1 +1,40 @@
 # comfychan
+
+A small imageboard server written in Go, using [chi](https://github.com/go-chi/chi) for routing, [templ](https://templ.guide) for HTML templating, [htmx](https://htmx.org) for interactivity, and SQLite for storage.
+
+## Requirements
+
+- Go 1.25+
+- [templ CLI](https://templ.guide/quick-start/installation) (`go install github.com/a-h/templ/cmd/templ@latest`), matching the version in `go.mod`
+- `sqlite3` (for seeding the database)
+
+## Development
+
+```
+make live
+```
+
+Starts the app with live reload: `templ` watches and regenerates `.templ` files, and static assets (`web/static`) trigger a browser refresh via proxy on `http://localhost:8080`.
+
+Seed the database:
+
+```
+make db/seed      # seed
+make db/seed/f    # wipe and reseed
+```
+
+## Building
+
+```
+make build
+```
+
+Generates templates and builds a binary at `./out/comfychan`.
+
+## Configuration
+
+- `COMFYCHAN_DATA_DIR` — base directory for runtime data (SQLite database, uploaded media, static assets). Defaults to the current directory if unset.
+
+## Deployment
+
+`./deploy.sh` builds the binary and ships it to a self-hosted server running comfychan as a systemd service (see script for target host/paths).