diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d84f96b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+# MTE - the MirageOS Taler Exchange
+
+
+build steps:
+
+$ mirage configure -f unikernel/config.ml -t unix
+$ gen_tls.sh foo
+$ make
+
+
diff --git a/data/tls/.gitkeep b/data/tls/certificates/.gitkeep
similarity index 100%
rename from data/tls/.gitkeep
rename to data/tls/certificates/.gitkeep
diff --git a/data/tls/keys/.gitkeep b/data/tls/keys/.gitkeep
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/gen_tls.sh b/gen_tls.sh
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 214ff867..17356a48
--- a/gen_tls.sh
+++ b/gen_tls.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,4 @@
 
 hostname="${2:-localhost}"
 
-mkdir data/tls/keys
-mkdir data/tls/certificates
 openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout data/tls/keys/$1 -out data/tls/certificates/$1 -sha256 -days 365 -subj "/CN=$hostname" -nodes