diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..560d1a6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+*.gem
+*.rbc
+.bundle
+.config
+coverage
+InstalledFiles
+lib/bundler/man
+pkg
+rdoc
+spec/reports
+test/tmp
+test/version_tmp
+tmp
+
+# YARD artifacts
+.yardoc
+_yardoc
+doc/
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
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index 00000000..536bf233
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+bioacoustic-workbench
+=====================
+
+An open source bioacoustic research platform that enables the management and annotation of audio recordings of the environment. We want to give ecologists the tools to retrieve the useful information from raw audio files.
\ No newline at end of file