+## Configuration
+
+Rhynodge’s configuration uses JSON files (I tried using XML first but apparently polymorphic deserialization is something that is not easily done with XML parsers). The format of a ``Chain`` configuration is pretty straight-forward and can be seen in the example configuration files.
+
+## Running Rhynodge
+
+Rhynodge uses Gradle as build and dependency management tool. After creating a “fat jar” (a JAR file containing all required dependencies), simply run the jar file with
+
+> $ java -jar build/libs/rhynodge-all-*.jar
+
+Rhynodge accepts the following options using environment variables:
+
+- ``SMTP_HOSTNAME``: the hostname of the SMTP server, is used for error emails; default is “localhost”
+- ``ERROR_EMAIL_SENDER``: the email address to use as sender for error emails
+- ``ERROR_EMAIL_RECIPIENT``: the email address to send error emails to
+- ``CHAIN_DIRECTORY``: directory to load chain configurations from; default is “chains”
+- ``STATE_DIRECTORY``: directory to store states in; default is “states”