diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 423738e..7cefd8c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -31,29 +31,22 @@ add user-level racket dir to your PATH
 export PATH=$HOME/.racket/$(racket -e "(displayln (version))")/bin:$PATH
 ```
 
-install package from repo
+install package from repo, and build the agent binary (and place it into the development state dir)
 ```bash
 raco pkg install ./crossfire
-```
-
-setup development environment
-```bash
-export DATABASE_URL="sqlite:lib/crossfire.sqlite"
 mkdir -p lib/projects
+make dev-make-agent
+# this step could take a while, and needs an internet connection to download some additional sources
 ```
 
-initialize server with some temporary dev commands (this assumes your computer is x86_64 linux)  
-the arch corresponds to the output of `gcc -dumpmachine` for the target
+initialize server with some temporary dev commands
 ```bash
-crossfire-server dev-new-agent meow x86_64-pc-linux-gnu  # exports lib/meow.rktd
 crossfire-server dev-export-client  # exports lib/client0.rktd
 ```
 
-start the server and a development version of the agent (WIP) using the exported agent config
+start the server
 ```bash
 crossfire-server
-# somewhere else
-racket crossfire/agent.rkt -c lib/meow.rktd
 ```
 
 set up the client with access to the server using the previous client config
@@ -61,6 +54,20 @@ set up the client with access to the server using the previous client config
 crossfire-client setup lib/client0.rktd
 ```
 
+register and start up one or more agents (this assumes your arch is `x86_64-pc-linux-gnu`, it's
+roughly the output of `gcc -dumpmachine` -- the arch is used to select an agent binary that was
+previously built)
+```bash
+crossfire-client agent -c -a x86_64-pc-linux-gnu -n myagent -r cpu
+# this will output that it saved a binary to a certain file
+# run the binary to start up the agent
+```
+
+check the status of agents
+```
+crossfire-client agent -l
+```
+
 create a new project
 ```bash
 crossfire-client new meow2