diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..04fe5c8825
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# symmetric-ds
+SymmetricDS is a data and file sync/replication solution. It is a platform-independent, web-enabled, and database-agnostic synchronization tool. SymmetricDS was built to replicate changes, bi-directionally, between remote or local agents.
+
+#development
+We use Eclipse for development.
+
+To setup a development environment run the following commands:
+```
+cd symmetric-assemble
+./gradlew develop
+```
+
+This will generate Eclipse project artifacts.  You can then import the projects into your Eclipse workspace.