diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f8fd4cc4..c2834767 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -2,8 +2,28 @@
 
 A cardano smart contract language and toolchain
 
+## Install
+
+For now you'll need rust installed, see [rustup](https://rustup.rs).
+
+`cargo install aiken`
+
+## Usage
+
+For now the command line application can only encode/decode Untyped Plutus Core
+to/from it's on chain format. See the roadmap below for a list of planned features and goals.
+
+```sh
+# compile an untyped plutus core program
+aiken uplc flat program.uplc
+```
+
 ## Roadmap
 
+In general, the goal is to port everything we need for plutus to
+Rust. This will be needed if we ever want to build a full node in
+Rust. Since we will have these tools natively in Rust, we plan on
+building a new high level language for writing smart contracts on Cardano.
 These are generic milestones and the listed ordering
 is not necessariy the implementation order or full scope.
 
diff --git a/crates/cli/src/lib.rs b/crates/cli/src/lib.rs
index 72b81c0b..abe25f89 100644
--- a/crates/cli/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/cli/src/lib.rs
@@ -2,21 +2,28 @@ use std::path::PathBuf;
 
 use clap::{Parser, Subcommand};
 
+/// Cardano smart contract toolchain
 #[derive(Parser)]
 #[clap(author, version, about, long_about = None)]
 #[clap(propagate_version = true)]
 pub enum Cli {
+    /// A subcommand for working with Untyped Plutus Core
     #[clap(subcommand)]
     Uplc(UplcCommand),
 }
 
+/// Commands for working with Untyped Plutus Core
 #[derive(Subcommand)]
 pub enum UplcCommand {
+    /// Encode textual Untyped Plutus Core to flat bytes
     Flat {
         input: PathBuf,
         #[clap(short, long)]
         print: bool,
+        #[clap(short, long)]
+        out: Option<String>,
     },
+    /// Decode flat bytes to textual Untyped Plutus Core
     Unflat {
         input: PathBuf,
         #[clap(short, long)]
diff --git a/crates/cli/src/main.rs b/crates/cli/src/main.rs
index 7ae58c24..1266381f 100644
--- a/crates/cli/src/main.rs
+++ b/crates/cli/src/main.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+use std::fs;
+
 use uplc::{
     ast::{DeBruijn, FakeNamedDeBruijn, Program},
     parser,
@@ -10,7 +12,7 @@ fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
 
     match args {
         Cli::Uplc(uplc) => match uplc {
-            UplcCommand::Flat { input, print } => {
+            UplcCommand::Flat { input, print, out } => {
                 let code = std::fs::read_to_string(&input)?;
 
                 let program = parser::program(&code)?;
@@ -31,6 +33,14 @@ fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
                     }
 
                     println!();
+                } else {
+                    let out_name = if let Some(out) = out {
+                        out
+                    } else {
+                        format!("{}.flat", input.file_stem().unwrap().to_str().unwrap())
+                    };
+
+                    fs::write(&out_name, &bytes)?;
                 }
             }
             UplcCommand::Unflat { input, print } => {
diff --git a/crates/uplc/src/ast.rs b/crates/uplc/src/ast.rs
index 04702b39..6344c6dc 100644
--- a/crates/uplc/src/ast.rs
+++ b/crates/uplc/src/ast.rs
@@ -5,12 +5,20 @@ use crate::{
     debruijn::{self, Converter},
 };
 
+/// This represents a program in Untyped Plutus Core.
+/// A program contains a version tuple and a term.
+/// It is generic because Term requires a generic type.
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq)]
 pub struct Program<T> {
     pub version: (usize, usize, usize),
     pub term: Term<T>,
 }
 
+/// This represents a term in Untyped Plutus Core.
+/// We need a generic type for the different forms that a program may be in.
+/// Specifically, `Var` and `parameter_name` in `Lambda` can be a `Name`,
+/// `NamedDebruijn`, or `DeBruijn`. When encoded to flat for on chain usage
+/// we must encode using the `DeBruijn` form.
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq)]
 pub enum Term<T> {
     // tag: 0
@@ -37,6 +45,8 @@ pub enum Term<T> {
     Builtin(DefaultFunction),
 }
 
+/// A container for the various constants that are available
+/// in Untyped Plutus Core. Used in the `Constant` variant of `Term`.
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq)]
 pub enum Constant {
     // tag: 0
@@ -53,20 +63,27 @@ pub enum Constant {
     Bool(bool),
 }
 
+/// A Name containing it's parsed textual representation
+/// and a unique id from string interning. The Name's text is
+/// interned during parsing.
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq)]
 pub struct Name {
     pub text: String,
     pub unique: Unique,
 }
 
+/// A unique id used for string interning.
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq, Copy, Eq, Hash)]
 pub struct Unique(isize);
 
 impl Unique {
+    /// Create a new unique id.
     pub fn new(unique: isize) -> Self {
         Unique(unique)
     }
 
+    /// Increment the available unique id. This is used during
+    /// string interning to get the next available unique id.
     pub fn increment(&mut self) {
         self.0 += 1;
     }
@@ -90,12 +107,18 @@ impl Display for Unique {
     }
 }
 
+/// Similar to `Name` but for Debruijn indices.
+/// `Name` is replaced by `NamedDebruijn` when converting
+/// program to it's debruijn form.
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq)]
 pub struct NamedDeBruijn {
     pub text: String,
     pub index: DeBruijn,
 }
 
+/// This is useful for decoding a on chain program into debruijn form.
+/// It allows for injecting fake textual names while also using Debruijn for decoding
+/// without having to loop through twice.
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq)]
 pub struct FakeNamedDeBruijn(NamedDeBruijn);
 
@@ -123,10 +146,12 @@ impl From<NamedDeBruijn> for FakeNamedDeBruijn {
     }
 }
 
+/// Represents a debruijn index.
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq, Copy)]
 pub struct DeBruijn(usize);
 
 impl DeBruijn {
+    /// Create a new debruijn index.
     pub fn new(index: usize) -> Self {
         DeBruijn(index)
     }
@@ -153,12 +178,15 @@ impl From<NamedDeBruijn> for DeBruijn {
 impl From<DeBruijn> for NamedDeBruijn {
     fn from(index: DeBruijn) -> Self {
         NamedDeBruijn {
+            // Inject fake name. We got `i` from the Plutus code base.
             text: String::from("i"),
             index,
         }
     }
 }
 
+/// Convert a Parsed `Program` to a `Program` in `NamedDebruijn` form.
+/// This checks for any Free Uniques in the `Program` and returns an error if found.
 impl TryFrom<Program<Name>> for Program<NamedDeBruijn> {
     type Error = debruijn::Error;
 
@@ -170,6 +198,8 @@ impl TryFrom<Program<Name>> for Program<NamedDeBruijn> {
     }
 }
 
+/// Convert a Parsed `Term` to a `Term` in `NamedDebruijn` form.
+/// This checks for any Free Uniques in the `Term` and returns an error if found.
 impl TryFrom<Term<Name>> for Term<NamedDeBruijn> {
     type Error = debruijn::Error;
 
@@ -182,6 +212,8 @@ impl TryFrom<Term<Name>> for Term<NamedDeBruijn> {
     }
 }
 
+/// Convert a Parsed `Program` to a `Program` in `Debruijn` form.
+/// This checks for any Free Uniques in the `Program` and returns an error if found.
 impl TryFrom<Program<Name>> for Program<DeBruijn> {
     type Error = debruijn::Error;
 
@@ -193,6 +225,8 @@ impl TryFrom<Program<Name>> for Program<DeBruijn> {
     }
 }
 
+/// Convert a Parsed `Term` to a `Term` in `Debruijn` form.
+/// This checks for any Free Uniques in the `Program` and returns an error if found.
 impl TryFrom<Term<Name>> for Term<DeBruijn> {
     type Error = debruijn::Error;
 
diff --git a/crates/uplc/src/builtins.rs b/crates/uplc/src/builtins.rs
index 2d7f9135..f4c8b389 100644
--- a/crates/uplc/src/builtins.rs
+++ b/crates/uplc/src/builtins.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 use flat::de;
 use strum_macros::EnumString;
 
+/// All the possible builtin functions in Untyped Plutus Core.
 #[repr(u8)]
 #[allow(non_camel_case_types)]
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, EnumString, PartialEq, Copy)]
diff --git a/crates/uplc/src/parser.rs b/crates/uplc/src/parser.rs
index fc91a2b9..2620ea1c 100644
--- a/crates/uplc/src/parser.rs
+++ b/crates/uplc/src/parser.rs
@@ -10,11 +10,15 @@ use peg::{error::ParseError, str::LineCol};
 
 mod interner;
 
+/// Parse a `Program` from a str.
 pub fn program(src: &str) -> Result<Program<Name>, ParseError<LineCol>> {
+    // initialize the string interner to get unique name
     let mut interner = Interner::new();
 
+    // run the generated parser
     let mut program = uplc::program(src)?;
 
+    // assign proper unique ids in place
     interner.program(&mut program);
 
     Ok(program)
diff --git a/crates/uplc/src/test.rs b/crates/uplc/src/test.rs
index 1417877b..358f9396 100644
--- a/crates/uplc/src/test.rs
+++ b/crates/uplc/src/test.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// e2e encoding/decoding tests
+/// e2e encoding/decoding tests
 use crate::{
     ast::{DeBruijn, Program},
     parser,