diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..19231f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,209 @@
+# Data Directory and Filepath Lookup
+
+Service to provide consistent file numbering and naming for unrelated data
+acquisition applications.
+
+## Running Locally
+
+The service is written in rust and requires the default toolchain and recent
+version of the compiler (1.81+). This is available from [rustup.rs][_rustup].
+
+[_rustup]:https://rustup.rs
+
+1. Clone this repository
+
+    ```
+    $ git clone git@github.com:DiamondLightSource/data-endpoint-lookup.git
+    Cloning into 'data-endpoint-lookup'...
+    ...
+    $ cd data-endpoint-lookup
+    ```
+
+2. Build the project
+
+    ```
+    $ cargo build
+    Compiling numtracker v0.1.0 (./path/to/data-endpoint-lookup)
+    ...
+    Finished 'dev' profile [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 11.56s
+    ```
+3. Run the service
+
+    ```
+    $ cargo run serve
+    2024-11-04T11:29:05.887214Z  INFO connect{filename="numtracker.db"}: numtracker::db_service: Connecting to SQLite DB
+    ```
+
+At this point the service is running and can be queried via the graphQL
+endpoints (see [the graphiql][_graphiql] front-end available at
+`localhost:8000/graphiql` by default) but there are no beamlines configured.
+
+Additional logging output is available via `-v` verbose flags.
+
+|Flags   |Level|
+|--------|-----|
+| `-q`   |None |
+|        |Error|
+| `-v`   |Info |
+| `-vv`  |Debug|
+| `-vvv` |Trace|
+
+## Schema
+
+The schema is available via the `schema` command. This is also available via the
+graphiql interface.
+```bash
+cargo run schema
+```
+
+## Queries
+
+<details>
+<summary>Testing queries from terminal</summary>
+
+While the graphiql front-end can be useful for exploring the API schema, running
+from the terminal is sometimes quicker/easier. This only requires `curl`
+although <a href="https://jqlang.github.io/jq/">jq</a> can make it
+easier to parse output.
+
+The query to run should be made as a POST request to `/graphql` wrapped in a
+JSON object as `{"query": "<query-string>"}` taking care to escape quotes as
+required. Using `curl` and a basic visit directory query (see below), this
+looks something like
+```bash
+echo '{                                                                                        17:15:56
+     "query": "{
+         paths(beamline: \"i22\", visit: \"cm37278-5\") {
+             directory
+         }
+     }"
+ }'| curl -s -X POST 127.0.0.1:8000/graphql -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d @- | jq
+```
+
+</details>
+
+### Queries (read-only)
+There are two read only queries, one to get the visit directory for a given
+visit and beamline and one to get the current configuration for a given
+beamline.
+
+#### paths
+Get the visit directory for a beamline and visit
+
+##### Query
+```json
+{
+  paths(beamline: "i22", visit: "cm12345-6") {
+    directory
+    visit
+  }
+}
+```
+##### Response
+```json
+{
+  "paths": {
+    "directory": "/data/i22/data/2024/cm37278-5",
+    "visit": "cm37278-5"
+  }
+}
+```
+
+#### configuration
+Get the current configuration values for the given beamline
+
+##### Query
+```graphql
+{
+  configuration(beamline: "i22") {
+    visitTemplate
+    scanTemplate
+    detectorTemplate
+    latestScanNumber
+  }
+}
+```
+
+##### Response
+```json
+{
+  "configuration": {
+    "visitTemplate": "/data/{instrument}/data/{year}/{visit}",
+    "scanTemplate": "{subdirectory}/{instrument}-{scan_number}",
+    "detectorTemplate": "{subdirectory}/{instrument}-{scan_number}-{detector}",
+    "latestScanNumber": 20839
+  }
+}
+```
+
+## Mutations (read-write)
+
+#### scan
+
+##### Query
+
+```
+mutation {
+  scan(beamline: "i22", visit: "cm12345-2", subdirectory: "sub/tree") {
+      scanFile
+      scanNumber
+      detectors(names: ["det1", "det2"] ) {
+          name
+          path
+      }
+  }
+}
+```
+
+##### Response
+```json
+{
+  "scan": {
+    "scanFile": "sub/tree/i22-20840",
+    "scanNumber": 20840,
+    "detectors": [
+      {
+        "name": "det1",
+        "path": "sub/tree/i22-20840-det1"
+      },
+      {
+        "name": "det2",
+        "path": "sub/tree/i22-20840-det2"
+      }
+    ]"
+  }
+}
+```
+
+#### configure
+##### Query
+```
+mutation {
+  configure(beamline: "i11", config: {
+      visit:"/tmp/{instrument}/data/{year}/{visit}"
+      scan:"{subdirectory}/{instrument}-{scan_number}"
+      detector:"{subdirectory}/{instrument}-{scan_number}-{detector}"
+      scanNumber: 12345
+    }) {
+      visitTemplate
+      scanTemplate
+      detectorTemplate
+      latestScanNumber
+    }
+  }
+}
+```
+##### Response
+```json
+{
+  "configure": {
+    "visitTemplate": "/tmp/{instrument}/data/{year}/{visit}",
+    "scanTemplate": "{subdirectory}/{instrument}-{scan_number}",
+    "detectorTemplate": "{subdirectory}/{instrument}-{scan_number}-{detector}",
+    "latestScanNumber": 12345
+  }``
+}
+```
+
+[_graphiql]:https://github.com/graphql/graphiql/
+[_jq]:https://jqlang.github.io/jq/