diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fdddb29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+This is free and unencumbered software released into the public domain.
+
+Anyone is free to copy, modify, publish, use, compile, sell, or
+distribute this software, either in source code form or as a compiled
+binary, for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial, and by any
+means.
+
+In jurisdictions that recognize copyright laws, the author or authors
+of this software dedicate any and all copyright interest in the
+software to the public domain. We make this dedication for the benefit
+of the public at large and to the detriment of our heirs and
+successors. We intend this dedication to be an overt act of
+relinquishment in perpetuity of all present and future rights to this
+software under copyright law.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
+EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
+MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
+IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR
+OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE,
+ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR
+OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
+
+For more information, please refer to <https://unlicense.org>
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 55f53e9..0ca6a36 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,7 +1,59 @@
-# neovim config in progress
+# viminal2
 
-```lua
-local test = test
+This is my second attempt at creating a Neovim configuration intended for
+NixOS. The [first](https://github.com/youwen5/viminal) was configured using
+[Nixvim](https://github.com/nix-community/nixvim). This mostly worked, except
+you often had to escape into raw Lua strings to get precise customization.
+
+Enter [nixCats](https://github.com/BirdeeHub/nixCats-nvim). It provides the
+tools needed to mix Nix and Lua in your configurations. For advanced users,
+configuring Neovim with Nix expressions doesn't really make sense, since the
+whole point of Neovim is to be extremely hackable ("hyperextensible") and it
+provides ergonomic Lua bindings for that purpose.
+
+This setup provides not just a usable but a "great" Neovim configuration for
+NixOS. That is, it has features that make it _better_ on _all distros_, not
+just on NixOS. Why? Instead of using ad-hoc package managers written for Neovim
+like `lazy.nvim`, `Mason`, etc, all external dependencies are fetched and built
+by Nix. Mason and lazy are good for what they are meant for, but Nix can make
+strong guarantees that practically no other package management tool can,
+period. Namely, it can ensure the presence of runtime dependencies (like `rg`,
+`fd`, LSPs, formatters, etc), and guarantee builds are successful. If your
+editor works today, it'll work tomorrow. It won't break from system upgrades or
+files randomly getting broken. Nix is purpose built to handle pretty much
+everything that a text editor's plugins shouldn't, and it's a perfect match.
+
+## Try it
+
+You can test drive the configuration (even if you aren't on NixOS) if you have
+the Nix package manager available (with flakes).
+
+```bash
+nix run 'github:youwen5/viminal2'
 ```
 
-[test](lsdjkfsdf)
+## Design
+
+As this is my second configuration from scratch (if you count Nixvim as "from
+scratch"), I wanted to do it right (so I could stop wasting my time configuring
+my editor).
+
+For completion, I use [blink.cmp](https://github.com/Saghen/blink.cmp). This
+plugin is much, much faster than `nvim-cmp` thanks to optimized `SIMD`
+instructions (and Rust), has a better fuzzy search, and comes with more out of
+the box.
+
+`lz.n` is used to load plugins after they have been downloaded by Nix. `lz.n`
+is a lazy loading plugin by the authors of `Rocks.nvim`, a plugin manager based
+on Luarocks. As they are designed to be decoupled, `Rocks.nvim` can simply be
+replaced by Nix. Most plugins are lazy loaded, but generally performance is
+good enough that it is not even strictly necessary.
+
+The keybinds have gotten a lot more idiosyncratic. Instead of focusing on
+mnemonic keys that can be easily committed to memory, highly efficient ones
+were chosen instead.
+
+## License
+
+Feel free to copy any code from here or use it as an example. It's [public
+domain](./LICENSE).