#1386: added documentation + dealing with pre-commit checks

README.md

@@ -1 +1,63 @@
 # PrimAITE
+
+## Getting Started with PrimAITE
+
+### Pre-Requisites
+
+In order to get **PrimAITE** installed, you will need to have the following installed:
+
+- `python3.8+`
+- `python3-pip`
+- `virtualenv`
+
+**PrimAITE** is designed to be OS-agnostic, and thus should work on most variations/distros of Linux, Windows, and MacOS.
+
+### Installation from source
+#### 1. Navigate to the PrimAITE folder and create a new python virtual environment (venv)
+
+```unix
+python3 -m venv <name_of_venv>
+```
+
+#### 2. Activate the venv
+
+##### Unix
+```bash
+source <name_of_venv>/bin/activate
+```
+
+##### Windows
+```powershell
+.\<name_of_venv>\Scripts\activate
+```
+
+#### 3. Install `primaite` into the venv along with all of it's dependencies
+
+```bash
+python3 -m pip install -e .
+```
+
+### Development Installation
+To install the development dependencies, postfix the command in step 3 above with the `[dev]` extra. Example:
+
+```bash
+python3 -m pip install -e .[dev]
+
+## Building documentation
+The PrimAITE documentation can be built with the following commands:
+
+##### Unix
+```bash
+cd docs
+make html
+```
+
+##### Windows
+```powershell
+cd docs
+.\make.bat html
+```
+
+This will build the documentation as a collection of HTML files which uses the Read The Docs sphinx theme. Other build
+options are available but may require additional dependencies such as LaTeX and PDF. Please refer to the Sphinx documentation
+for your specific output requirements.