diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..767dec35
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+<p><img src="/iceshrimp/iceshrimp/media/branch/dev/assets/logo.png" alt="Iceshrimp" width="400px"></p>
+<p><strong>Iceshrimp</strong> is a decentralized and federated social networking service, implementing the <strong>ActivityPub</strong> standard.<br>
+This repository contains our efforts to rewrite both the backend and the frontend, to improve performance, stability and maintainability.</p>
+
+---
+
+> **Warning**
+> This is pre-alpha software, do **not** use with a production database.
+
+---
+
+Shoutouts to [JetBrains](https://jb.gg/OpenSourceSupport) for providing us with free access to their awesome developer tools.