diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# Shamira #
+
+Implements Shamir's secret sharing algorithm. Splits a string or a byte sequence byte-per-byte into n<255 shares, with any k of them sufficient for reconstruction of the original input.
+
+Outputs the shares as hexadecimal, Base32 or Base64 encoded strings.
+
+Can be used on its own from the command line by invoking shamira.py or as a library by importing shamira.py.