diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..83022cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+# Athena — AI Research Intelligence Engine
+
+> Multi-source research ingestion, pattern detection, and hypothesis falsification pipeline.
+> Autonomous daily operation: ingest → summarize → theme-scan → flag weak signals.
+
+## Repo
+
+- **Location:** `Leonard/athena-oracle` (private, Gitea)
+- **URL:** http://localhost:3000/Leonard/athena-oracle
+- **Branch:** `main`
+- **Origin:** mirrors `~/oracle` (local working copy)
+
+## What it does
+
+Athena runs on a daily cron (13:00 UTC) and continuously ingests from 6 sources,
+then applies a signal-scoring + falsification loop to surface real AI research
+momentum rather than source-expansion noise.
+
+| Component | File | Purpose |
+|-----------|------|---------|
+| Pipeline | `pipeline.py` | Orchestrates ingest → store → summarize → score |
+| Adapters | `adapters/` | arxiv, github, huggingface, hackernews, reddit, rss_feeds |
+| Theme scan | `theme_scan.py` | Cross-source trend detection + idempotent falsification |
+| Query | `query.py` | Interactive lookup against the store |
+| Archive | `archive.py` | Cold-storage rotation |
+| Summarize | `summarize.py` | Local summarization (Ollama — currently offline) |
+| Schema | `schema.sql` | SQLite store definition |
+| Cron entry | `oracle-pipeline.sh` | Wrapper invoked by Hermes cron |
+
+## Local inference status
+
+`summarize.py` uses Ollama only (DeepSeek fallback removed — OpenRouter 402).
+Ollama is **currently unavailable**; summarization steps are skipped until it returns.
+Pipeline ingestion, scoring, and theme-scan continue without it.
+
+## Data handling
+
+- `oracle.db`, `logs/`, `.env`, `__pycache__/` are **git-ignored** (not committed).
+- API tokens (`GITHUB_TOKEN`, `HUGGINGFACE_TOKEN`) are read from environment only — never hardcoded.
+
+## Setup
+
+```bash
+pip install -r requirements.txt   # if present; else deps are stdlib + requests
+export GITHUB_TOKEN=...            # optional, raises rate limit 60→5000/hr
+python3 pipeline.py                # manual run
+```
+
+## Architecture detail
+
+See `whitepaper.md` for full system design, scoring methodology, and the
+verification discipline that keeps adapters honest.
diff --git a/whitepaper.md b/whitepaper.md
index d1c8b55..52e7dd5 100644
--- a/whitepaper.md
+++ b/whitepaper.md
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 ## White Paper — System Architecture, Pattern Detection, and Opportunity Discovery
 
+**Source:** `Leonard/athena-oracle` (private, Gitea — http://localhost:3000/Leonard/athena-oracle) · branch `main`
+
 ---
 
 ## Table of Contents