diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c340475
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# Telegram bot powered by OpenAI assistant API
+
+## Usage
+
+https://t.me/bubby2023_bot
+
+## Deployment
+
+```shell
+# this project uses PNPM instead of NPM
+npm install --global pnpm
+
+# install dependencies
+pnpm install
+
+# set secrets for the local stage
+## create new secret key at https://platform.openai.com/api-keys
+pnpm sst secrets set OPENAI_API_KEY sk-xxx 
+## create new assistant at https://platform.openai.com/assistants
+pnpm sst secrets set OPENAI_ASSISTANT_ID asst_xxx
+## chat with https://t.me/BotFather to create a new bot
+pnpm sst secrets set TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN '123:xxx'
+## use https://www.random.org/passwords/ or similar tool to generate a random password
+pnpm sst secrets set TELEGRAM_WEBHOOK_SECRET_TOKEN s3cret
+
+# this project use SST to deploy to AWS
+# use its dev command for https://docs.sst.dev/live-lambda-development
+pnpm dev
+
+# register webhook
+curl https://api.telegram.org/bot${TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN}/setWebhook \
+  -F url=https://xxx.execute-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/api/webhook \
+  -F secret_token=${TELEGRAM_WEBHOOK_SECRET_TOKEN}
+
+# check webhook status
+curl https://api.telegram.org/bot${TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN}/getWebhookInfo
+```