diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
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+++ b/README.md
@@ -5,3 +5,51 @@
 It is built with investigative reporting as its primary use case and utilizes the [Follow the Money](https://github.com/alephdata/followthemoney) data model, which seeks to provide a common language to describe the entities most commonly used in investigative reporting.
 
 To get started, download the latest release [here](https://github.com/alephdata/visdesktop/releases).
+
+
+### Packaging the app
+
+In order to package the app locally run the following:
+```
+make install
+npm run build
+```
+When the build is completed you should see a list of executables in the /dist directory.
+
+
+### Notarizing the app
+
+If you have not distributed a release with the Developer ID you plan to use, it is required to notarize the app first.  If not, users will see a warning message when they attempt to open the downloaded app. From Apple: "Beginning in macOS 10.14.5, all new or updated kernel extensions and all software from developers new to distributing with Developer ID must be notarized in order to run."
+
+Prerequisites:
+- an env file with the following:
+  - APPLE_ID: a valid Apple Id
+  - APPLE_APP_PASSWORD: an Apple app specific password (See https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204397)
+
+Steps:
+1. Add the following afterSign hook to the build config in package.json.  This will call the notarize script during the build process
+```
+"build": {
+ ...
+ "afterSign": "scripts/notarize.js",
+```
+2. Follow the above steps to package the app
+3. If notarization is successful, you will receive a confirmation email and see the notarization confirmation message in the terminal
+
+Useful resources:
+https://medium.com/@TwitterArchiveEraser/notarize-electron-apps-7a5f988406db
+https://kilianvalkhof.com/2019/electron/notarizing-your-electron-application/
+
+
+### Distributing the app
+In order to distribute a new release of the app do the following.
+
+Prerequisites:
+- notarization of the app (see above)
+- a Developer ID Application certificate in your Keychain 
+  - download an existing certificate from: https://developer.apple.com/account/resources/certificates/list or create a new one using xCode
+  - add the certificate to your Keychain
+  
+Steps:
+1. Run ```make release-{major|minor|patch}```.  This will draft a new tagged release with the bumped version number and upload the relevant files to Github
+2. You should see the newly drafted release in the Releases section of the repo.  Edit as needed and publish to make the new release available for download.