docs: README.md

README.md

@@ -1,5 +1,113 @@
-# Towel - Distrobox setup for codam clusters
-A towel is just about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can carry.
+# Towel
+> A towel is just about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can carry.
 
+A thin wrapper around **Distrobox** to keep your host clean while still running tools and apps as if they were locally installed.
 
 
+## What this project does
+
+Towel installs a `towel` command and a predefined Distrobox container config for `towel`, based on Fedora toolbox. It adds a simple workflow for:
+
+- creating/entering the container,
+- installing packages with `dnf` inside the container,
+- exporting app launchers/binaries back to the host via managed wrappers.
+
+## Quick start
+
+### 1) Install towel
+
+From this repo root:
+
+```bash
+./install
+```
+
+- Use `./install --yes` in non-interactive scripts.
+- The installer will:
+  - copy towel files to `~/.local/share/towel`
+  - symlink `~/.local/bin/towel`
+  - copy distrobox/container config to `~/.config`
+  - install distrobox automatically if missing
+
+### 2) Create the container
+
+```bash
+towel create
+```
+
+### 3) Enter it
+
+```bash
+towel enter
+```
+
+### 4) Install software
+
+```bash
+towel install <package>
+```
+
+By default it prompts whether to export installed apps/binaries to the host.
+Use `towel install --yes <package>` to auto-export.
+
+---
+
+## Common commands
+
+```bash
+towel                 # same as towel enter
+towel create          # create container from ~/.config/distrobox/towel.ini
+towel enter           # enter container shell
+towel exec <cmd>      # run command inside container
+towel install <pkg>   # dnf install inside container (+ optional export)
+towel export <pkg>    # export already-installed package commands/apps
+towel remove          # remove container and exported wrappers
+towel update --check  # check for updates
+towel update --apply  # install latest release
+```
+
+## How export works
+
+Exported integrations are managed by towel and placed under:
+
+- internal wrappers: `~/.local/share/towel/exports/`
+- host-facing symlinks/apps:
+  - `~/.local/bin/`
+  - `~/.local/share/applications/towel-*.desktop`
+
+Discovery is package-file based (`dnf repoquery`) and currently only exports:
+
+- binaries in `/usr/bin/*`
+- desktop entries in `/usr/share/applications/*.desktop`
+
+---
+
+## What applications work well in towel?
+
+### ✅ Good fit
+
+Apps/tools that are:
+
+- regular RPM packages installed via `dnf`
+- command-line tools with executables in `/usr/bin`
+- desktop apps that ship standard `.desktop` launchers in `/usr/share/applications`
+- user-space developer tooling (compilers, linters, formatters, language runtimes, editors)
+
+These are the exact paths towel knows how to export cleanly.
+
+### ⚠️ Usually awkward or unsupported
+
+Apps that require behavior outside towel’s export/runtime model, for example:
+
+- software that needs host-level system services (`systemd` units, daemons, kernel modules)
+- packages whose main binaries are not in `/usr/bin` (for example only in `/opt`, custom paths, or generated at runtime)
+- GUI apps without a standard `.desktop` launcher under `/usr/share/applications`
+- apps needing privileged/root-style host integration beyond normal user-space container access
+
+These can still run manually in some cases, but won’t be reliably auto-exported by `towel export`.
+
+## Notes
+
+- `towel remove` is destructive and unexports managed wrappers first.
+- The default container config lives at `~/.config/distrobox/towel.ini` (copied from this repo during install).
+- If `towel` isn’t found after install, restart your shell so `~/.local/bin` is on `PATH`.