diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b425937..5ca283e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,63 +1,21 @@
 # Automerge Repo Sync Server
 
-A very simple automerge-repo synchronization server. It pairs with the websocket client protocol
-found in `@automerge/automerge-repo-network-websocket`.
+A very simple automerge-repo synchronization server. It pairs with the
+websocket client protocol found in
+`@automerge/automerge-repo-network-websocket`.
 
-The server is an unsecured [Express](https://expressjs.com/) app. It is really just for
-demonstration purposes at this point; you probably don't want to use it for anything real yet. This
-isn't a great way to operate (or the only way) but it's a useful demonstration of what a
-client/server deployment might look like.
+The server is an unsecured [Express](https://expressjs.com/) app. It is partly
+for demonstration purposes but it's also a reasonable way to run a public sync
+server.
 
-## Setting up
+## Running the sync server
 
-Before getting started, make sure you've run `yarn`, and `yarn build` at the root of the monorepo. This will install all your dependencies and make sure the other libraries are compiled.
+`npx @automerge/automerge-repo-sync-server`
 
-## Run the sync server
+The server is configured with environment variables. There are two options:
 
-`yarn start:syncserver`
-
-## Set up a sync-server on ubuntu
-
-Set up basic firewall:
-
-```
-$ sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
-$ sudo ufw allow http
-$ sudo ufw allow https
-$ sudo ufw enable
-```
-
-Install git:
-
-```
-$ sudo apt-get install git
-```
-
-Install node:
-
-```
-$ curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_18.x | sudo -E bash - &&\
-sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
-```
-
-Clone repo (may require setting up ssh keys to clone from github)
-
-```
-$ git clone git@github.com:automerge-repo/automerge-repo-sync-server.git
-```
-
-Build everything:
-
-```
-$ cd automerge-repo-sync-server
-$ yarn build
-```
-
-Run a server:
-
-```
-$ PORT=<your preferred port> yarn start
-```
+- `PORT` - the port to listen for websocket connections on
+- `DATA_DIR` - the directory to store saved documents in
 
 ## Contributors