diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index caf6ab8..9419924 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,2 +1,66 @@
 # backup-zfs
 zfs snapshot send/receive supporting pull
+
+## Basic Usage
+    backup-zfs remote_host:src_pool/fs dest_pool
+
+This will create a new snapshot on the remote host (via SSH) and "send" it to
+your local host where it will be received into dest_pool/fs.
+
+I use this on my laptop to backup my home server to a removable drive. This
+*pull* functionality was something I had trouble finding in the other similar
+scripts out there, and was the main reason I wrote this.
+
+## Features
+* pull from a remote source to a local (or remote) destination
+  * (source and destination can each be either local or remote)
+* keeps its own set of snapshots
+* SSH connection is made with regular user, and uses sudo for ZFS commands
+* sends incremental snapshots after first run
+
+## Limitations
+* always uses sudo
+* always creates recursive snapshots (`zfs snapshot -r`)
+* always sends full replication stream (`zfs send -R`)
+* always keeps the full zfs path, minus the first component (`zfs recv -d`)
+
+## Install/Requirements
+* There is no need to install, just clone/download where you like and run
+* Created & tested with [ZFS On Linux][1] on Ubuntu 16.04
+* Requires bash(1), date(1), sudo(8), and zfs(8)
+* Requires ssh(1) for remote hosts
+  * If your SSH environment requires a custom port or other configuration
+    options, that will need to be done in your ssh_config(5) file
+
+## Usage/Examples
+    backup-zfs [-hvq] [-t tag] [-k keep] [-d dateopts] src dest
+      use zfs send/recv to push/pull snapshots
+
+      src          the source fs, specified as [host:]pool/path/to/fs
+      dest         the destination fs parent, specified as [host:]pool/path/to/fs
+                   (the final path component of src will be appended to dest)
+
+      -h           help
+      -v           verbose mode
+      -q           quiet mode
+      -t tag       tag to use for naming snapshots (default: backup-zfs)
+      -k keep      number of snapshots to keep on src (default: 5)
+      -d dateopts  options for date(1) - used to name the snapshots (default: +%F_%T)
+
+    # Local mode: Backup tank/system to backup/tank/system
+    backup-zfs tank/system backup/tank
+
+    # Pull mode: Backup tank/system on tankhost to localhost
+    backup-zfs tankhost:tank/system backup/tank
+
+    # Push mode: Backup tank/system on localhost to backuphost
+    backup-zfs tank/system backuphost:backup/tank
+
+    # Double remote mode: Backup tank/system on tankhost to backuphost
+    backup-zfs tankhost:tank/system backuphost:backup/tank
+
+    # In this mode, your client will establish two separate SSH sessions,
+    # connect them with a pipe, and pull data from one while pushing to the
+    # other. No data will be stored locally.
+
+[1]: https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs