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+# dpw the dynamic password manager
+
+Inspired by [`pass`](https://www.passwordstore.org/) and designed to be
+compatible out of the box.
+
+The main point of this is to provide a somewhat familiar interface for
+pluggable backends. Secondary benefits that people may be interested in is the
+ISC license, so you can modify the `dpw` script without giving me your changes
+even if you use it in a commercial product. ( Though, it might be appreciated to
+get code back! )
+
+For instance, one could write a plugin that talks to Lastpass, Bitwarden
+Hasicorp's Vault, or similar.
+
+There are some mild changes in the interface from `pass`, a full list
+of commands and options are available with the `-h` command line flag.
+
+The environment variable `DPW_BACKEND` defaults to `dpw-gpg` which provides
+the `pass` compatible backend. Since it's just a call to another executable
+the backends can be written in any language.
+
+
+## Backends
+
+The `dpw-gpg` shell script should be short enough to read to give you an
+idea for implementing your own. That being said the interface is blindingly
+simple, accept the following four commands:
+
+  * list
+    * dump a list of the available keys, supporting arguments for sub keys
+	  may be preferred by users but isn't necessary, `find` will still work
+	  for them.
+  * insert `<key>`
+    * Read from stdin
+  * show `<key>`
+    * Dump to stdout
+  * rm `<key>`
+
+`dpw` will take care of all the additional commands by wrapping the four
+above as needed.