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- write basic README

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+## thulani
+
+A Discord bot that:
+
+- plays media in voice chat
+- stores and plays back memes
+- rolls dice
+
+### Build
+Install [Rust](https://rustup.rs/). Thulani builds on nightly.
+
+You'll also need some libraries, but I don't have an exhaustive list. Off the top of my head, I know you'll need 
+sodium-dev and openssl-dev, but there are probably a couple more. Just read the compile log and see what breaks.
+
+The above should be enough to *build* thulani, but you'll also need `ffmpeg`, `youtube-dl`, and a postgres database to
+run him.
+
+Thulani *can* run on Windows, but I have thus far only managed this under mingw. I'm sure it's theoretically possible to
+build him for MSVC, but I had significant issues with system libraries (openssl especially) when I tried this.
+
+NB: The docker configuration is in a partially-complete state at the moment--it will not make your life easier.
+
+### Run
+```bash
+cargo run --release
+```
+
+is the easiest way to do this.
+
+### Postgres
+Install postgres according to your distribution's relevant instructions, then create a database for thulani.
+
+Install `diesel_cli` according to [these instructions](https://github.com/diesel-rs/diesel/tree/master/diesel_cli#installation).
+
+You will (minimally) need to install `libpq` (possibly with headers as well) in order to do this.
+
+Connect to your database and run
+
+```postgresql
+CREATE EXTENSION pgcrypto;
+```
+
+Then, in your shell (from thulani's root dir)
+
+```bash
+diesel migration run
+```
+
+### Configuration
+Most of thulani's configuration is in his `.env` file. You will need to point him to the specific server he will
+service, as well as his owner and the voice channel he will join when invoked.
+
+You will also need to set up an app and a bot through Discord's developer portal. These will, respectively, provide you
+with values for `THULANI_CLIENT_ID` and `THULANI_TOKEN`. 
+
+`OP_ID` used to be for operators (people who could control thulani's playback), but I believe this no longer serves any
+purpose. You should be able to drop this field.
+
+If you want to use a different prefix or set of prefixes (so that he can be invoked with something other than `!thulani`),
+the spot to do this is in `src/main.rs:run`.
+
+### Disclaimer
+I maintain this bot for my own personal Discord server and have no intention of developing him for more widespread use.
+He is open source because I felt there was no reason to keep him private, not out of a desire to accept community input.
+I don't want to discourage anyone from making PRs, but it's not likely I will pay them very much attention. A better use
+of your time would almost always be to just fork him.