diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c41aac7..35ac4b5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -7,4 +7,274 @@
 [![release](https://github.com/runwaylab/issue-db/actions/workflows/release.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/runwaylab/issue-db/actions/workflows/release.yml)
 [![coverage](./docs/assets/coverage.svg)](./docs/assets/coverage.svg)
 
-A Ruby Gem to use GitHub Issues as a NoSQL JSON document db
+A Ruby Gem to use GitHub Issues as a NoSQL JSON document db.
+
+## Quick Start ⚡
+
+The `issue-db` gem uses CRUD operations to read and write data to a GitHub repository using issues as the records. The title of the issue is used as the unique key for the record and the body of the issue is used to store the data in JSON format.
+
+Here is an extremely basic example of using the `issue-db` gem:
+
+```ruby
+require "issue_db"
+
+# The GitHub repository to use as the database
+repo = "runwaylab/grocery-orders"
+
+# Create a new database instance
+db = IssueDB.new(repo)
+
+# Write a new record to the database
+db.create("order_number_123", { location: "London", items: [ "cookies", "espresso" ] })
+
+# Read the newly created record from the database
+record = db.read("order_number_123")
+
+puts record.data # => {location: "London", items: ["cookies", "espresso"]}
+```
+
+> A more detailed example can be found below.
+
+## Installation 🚚
+
+You may install this Gem from either [RubyGems](https://rubygems.org/gems/issue-db) or [GitHub Packages](https://github.com/runwaylab/issue-db/pkgs/rubygems/issue-db).
+
+RubyGems:
+
+```ruby
+source "https://rubygems.org"
+
+gem "issue-db", "X.X.X" # Replace X.X.X with the version you want to use
+```
+
+GitHub Packages:
+
+```ruby
+source "https://rubygems.pkg.github.com/runwaylab" do
+  gem "issue-db", "X.X.X" # Replace X.X.X with the version you want to use
+end
+```
+
+Command Line Installation:
+
+```sh
+gem install issue-db --version "X.X.X"
+```
+
+## Usage 💻
+
+The following CRUD operations are available for the `issue-db` gem:
+
+> Note: All methods return the `IssueDB::Record` of the object which was involved in the operation
+
+### `db.create(key, data, options = {})`
+
+- `key` (String) - The unique key for the record. This is the title of the GitHub issue. It must be unique within the database.
+- `data` (Hash) - The data to write to the record. This can be any valid JSON data type (String, Number, Boolean, Array, Object, or nil).
+- `options` (Hash) - A hash of options to configure the create operation.
+
+Example:
+
+```ruby
+record = db.create("order_number_123", { location: "London", items: [ "cookies", "espresso" ] })
+
+# with the `body_before` and `body_after` options to add markdown text before and after the data in the GitHub issue body
+# this can be useful if you want to add additional context to the data in the issue body for humans to read
+# more on this in another section of the README below
+options = { body_before: "some markdown text before the data", body_after: "some markdown text after the data" }
+record = db.create("order_number_123", { location: "London", items: [ "cookies", "espresso" ] }, options)
+```
+
+Notes:
+
+- If the key already exists in the database, the `create` method will return the existing record without modifying it.
+
+### `db.read(key, options = {})`
+
+- `key` (String) - The unique key for the record. This is the title of the GitHub issue.
+- `options` (Hash) - A hash of options to configure the read operation.
+
+Example:
+
+```ruby
+record = db.read("order_number_123")
+
+# with the `include_closed` option to include records that have been deleted (i.e. the GitHub issue is closed)
+options = { include_closed: true }
+record = db.read("order_number_123", options)
+```
+
+### `db.update(key, data, options = {})`
+
+- `key` (String) - The unique key for the record. This is the title of the GitHub issue.
+- `data` (Hash) - The data to write to the record. This can be any valid JSON data type (String, Number, Boolean, Array, Object, or nil).
+- `options` (Hash) - A hash of options to configure the update operation.
+
+Example:
+
+```ruby
+record = db.update("order_number_123", { location: "London", items: [ "cookies", "espresso", "chips" ] })
+
+# with the `body_before` and `body_after` options to add markdown text before and after the data in the GitHub issue body
+# this can be useful if you want to add additional context to the data in the issue body for humans to read
+# more on this in another section of the README below
+options = { body_before: "# Order 123\n\nData:", body_after: "Please do not edit the body of this issue" }
+record = db.update("order_number_123", { location: "London", items: [ "cookies", "espresso", "chips" ] }, options)
+```
+
+### `db.delete(key, options = {})`
+
+- `key` (String) - The unique key for the record. This is the title of the GitHub issue.
+- `options` (Hash) - A hash of options to configure the delete operation.
+
+Example:
+
+```ruby
+record = db.delete("order_number_123")
+```
+
+### `db.list_keys(options = {})`
+
+- `options` (Hash) - A hash of options to configure the list operation.
+
+Example:
+
+```ruby
+keys = db.list_keys
+
+# with the `include_closed` option to include records that have been deleted (i.e. the GitHub issue is closed)
+options = { include_closed: true }
+keys = db.list_keys(options)
+```
+
+### `db.list(options = {})`
+
+- `options` (Hash) - A hash of options to configure the list operation.
+
+Example:
+
+```ruby
+records = db.list
+
+# with the `include_closed` option to include records that have been deleted (i.e. the GitHub issue is closed)
+options = { include_closed: true }
+records = db.list(options)
+```
+
+### `db.refresh!`
+
+Force a refresh of the database cache. This will make a request to the GitHub API to get the latest data from the GitHub issues in the repository.
+
+This can be useful if you have made changes to the database outside of the gem and don't want to wait for the cache to refresh. By default, the cache refreshes every 60 seconds. Modified records (such as an `update` operation) will be refreshed automatically into the cache so that subsequent reads will return the updated data. The only time you really need to worry about refreshing the cache is if you have made changes to the database outside of the gem or if there is another service using this gem that is also making changes to the database.
+
+Example:
+
+```ruby
+db.refresh!
+```
+
+## Options 🛠
+
+This section will go into detail around how you can configure the `issue-db` gem to behave:
+
+### Environment Variables 🌍
+
+| Name | Description | Default Value |
+|------|-------------|---------------|
+| `LOG_LEVEL` | The log level to use for the `issue-db` gem. Can be one of `DEBUG`, `INFO`, `WARN`, `ERROR`, or `FATAL` | `INFO` |
+| `ISSUE_DB_LABEL` | The label to use for the issues that are used as records in the database. This value is required and it is what this gem uses to scan a repo for the records it is aware of. | `issue-db` |
+| `ISSUE_DB_CACHE_EXPIRY` | The number of seconds to cache the database in memory. The database is cached in memory to avoid making a request to the GitHub API for every operation. The default value is 60 seconds. | `60` |
+| `ISSUE_DB_SLEEP` | The number of seconds to sleep between requests to the GitHub API in the event of an error | `3` |
+| `ISSUE_DB_RETRIES` | The number of retries to make when there is an error making a request to the GitHub API | `10` |
+| `GITHUB_TOKEN` | The GitHub personal access token to use for authenticating with the GitHub API. You can also use a GitHub app or pass in your own authenticated Octokit.rb instance | `nil` |
+
+## Authentication 🔒
+
+The `issue-db` gem uses the [`Octokit.rb`](https://github.com/octokit/octokit.rb) library under the hood for interactions with the GitHub API. You have three options for authentication when using the `issue-db` gem:
+
+1. Use a GitHub personal access token by setting the `GITHUB_TOKEN` environment variable
+2. Use a GitHub app by setting the `GITHUB_APP_ID`, `GITHUB_APP_INSTALLATION_ID`, and `GITHUB_APP_PRIVATE_KEY` environment variables
+3. Pass in your own authenticated `Octokit.rb` instance to the `IssueDB.new` method
+
+Here are examples of each of these options:
+
+### Using a GitHub Personal Access Token
+
+```ruby
+# Assuming you have a GitHub personal access token set as the GITHUB_TOKEN env var
+require "issue_db"
+
+db = IssueDB.new("<org>/<repo>") # THAT'S IT! 🎉
+```
+
+### Using a GitHub App
+
+```ruby
+```
+
+### Using Your Own Authenticated `Octokit.rb` Instance
+
+```ruby
+require "octokit"
+
+# Create your own authenticated Octokit.rb instance
+# You should probably set the page_size to 100 and auto_paginate to true
+octokit = Octokit::Client.new(access_token: "<TOKEN>", page_size: 100)
+octokit.auto_paginate = true
+
+db = IssueDB.new("<org>/<repo>", octokit_client: octokit)
+```
+
+## Advanced Example 🚀
+
+Here is a more advanced example of using the `issue-db` gem that demonstrates many different features of the gem:
+
+```ruby
+# Assuming you have a GitHub personal access token set as the GITHUB_TOKEN env var
+require "issue_db"
+
+# The GitHub repository to use as the database
+repo = "runwaylab/grocery-orders"
+
+# Create a new database instance
+db = IssueDB.new(repo)
+
+# Write a new record to the database where the title of the issue is the unique key
+new_issue = db.create("order_number_123", { location: "London", items: [ "cookies", "espresso" ] })
+
+# View the record data and the source data which contains the GitHub issue object
+puts new_issue.data # => {location: "London", items: ["cookies", "espresso"]}
+puts new_issue.source_data.state # => "open" (the GitHub issue is open so the record is active)
+puts new_issue.source_data.html_url # => "https://github.com/runwaylab/grocery-orders/issues/<number>" (the URL of the GitHub issue which is the DB record)
+
+# Update the record
+updated_issue = db.update("order_number_123", { location: "London", items: [ "cookies", "espresso", "chips" ] })
+
+# View the updated record data
+puts updated_issue.data # => {location: "London", items: ["cookies", "espresso", "chips"]}
+
+# Get the record by key
+record = db.read("order_number_123")
+
+# View the record data
+puts record.data # => {location: "London", items: ["cookies", "espresso", "chips"]}
+
+# Delete the record
+deleted_record = db.delete("order_number_123")
+puts deleted_record.source_data.state # => "closed" (the GitHub issue is closed as "completed" so the record is inactive)
+
+# List all keys in the database including closed records
+keys = db.list_keys({ include_closed: true })
+
+puts keys # => ["order_number_123"]
+
+# List all records in the database including closed records
+records = db.list({ include_closed: true })
+
+# Inspection of the first record in the list
+puts records.first.data # => {location: "London", items: ["cookies", "espresso", "chips"]}
+puts records.first.source_data.state # => "closed" (the GitHub issue is closed as "completed" so the record is inactive)
+
+# Force a refresh of the database cache (useful if you have made changes to the database outside of the gem and don't want to wait for the cache to refresh)
+db.refresh!
+```
diff --git a/spec/lib/issue_db/database_spec.rb b/spec/lib/issue_db/database_spec.rb
index 59891ec..de6ad36 100644
--- a/spec/lib/issue_db/database_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/issue_db/database_spec.rb
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@
   context "list" do
     it "lists all records successfully" do
       records = subject.list
+      expect(records.first.data).to eq({"age"=>333, "apple"=>"red", "cool"=>true, "user"=>"mona"})
       expect(records.first.source_data.number).to eq(8)
       expect(records.last.source_data.number).to eq(6)
       expect(records.size).to eq(3)