diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 7f66a00..2783622 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -10,6 +10,54 @@ as closely as possible: http://docs.steinwurf.com/coding_style.html
 Steinwurf uses heavily-templated C++11 code that can be a true challenge
 for a code formatting tool.
 
+Quick start
+-----------
 
+If you already installed a C++11 compiler, git and python on your system,
+then you can clone this repository to a suitable folder::
 
+    git clone git@github.com:steinwurf/astyle.git
 
+Configure and build the project (use the ``cxx_default`` mkspec, because
+fabric will look for the ``astyle`` binary at this default location)::
+
+    cd astyle
+    python waf configure --cxx_mkspec=cxx_default
+    python waf build
+
+Running astyle manually
+-----------------------
+
+First of all, you should copy the ``.astylerc`` options file to your home
+folder.
+
+On Unix systems::
+
+    cp .astylerc ~
+
+On Windows::
+
+    copy .astylerc %USERPROFILE%\astylerc
+
+After this, you can call ``astyle`` to format a single file (be careful,
+because **it will not make a backup** for the original file)::
+
+    build/cxx_default/astyle test.cpp --print-changes
+
+The ``--print-changes`` option prints out every line that is changed
+during the formatting. This is especially useful with the ``--dry-run``
+option that will not write any modifications to the file::
+
+    build/cxx_default/astyle test.cpp --print-changes --dry-run
+
+**Warning**: Be careful about the working directory if you invoke the
+following command, because you can accidentally format a lot of files!
+
+You can format all C/C++ source files within the current directory with the
+recursive search (``-R``) option::
+
+    cd my-project
+    path/to/astyle -Q -R *.cpp *.hpp *.c *.h --print-changes
+
+With the ``-Q`` option, astyle will only display information about the
+formatted files (it will not list the unchanged files).
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