diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6a5e0be..2611e7a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -10,17 +10,48 @@
 4. Run [build.sh](./build.sh)
 5. Copy `taro-ctl` to your path
 
+## usage
+
+The `taro-ls` window has three main areas:
+
+- Mailboxes: it's assumed by taro-ctrl that your inbox is named INBOX, and it exists; it's put first, and the rest are shown in alphabetical order
+- Mail List: your mail in the default scan-format given in your mblaze-profile is shown here
+- Actions: button list and initially hidden text input area
+
+Left clicking on a mailbox switches to that mailbox. Left-clicking on mail selects that mail. You can do multiselect by holding shift when clicking. Right-clicking on mail opens that mail (only the first in the selection if 2 or more are selected). You can also use the `Enter` key to open mail.
+
+The buttons on the bottom are as follows (with equivalent keybinds):
+
+- compose [`n`]: open a compose window to write new mail
+- refresh [`r`]: refresh the current mailbox
+- mark all read ['.']: this
+- search [`/`]: search mail with a regex (only headers, case sensitive)
+- refile [`m`]: move mail to the given folder
+- trash [`Del`]: move mail to the Trash folder, unless it's already in the Trash, in which case it's deleted
+
+There is a resize handle in the bottom right - clicking and dragging it resizes the window.
+
+If you try to decrypt/sign with either `pinenetry-tty` or `pinentry-curses`, GPG will attach it to the stdio of `taro-ctl`, not the terminal window where you are viewing/composing mail. Use a graphical pinentry program instead.
+
+## TODO
+
+- Make `mread` more user friendly
+- Implement keybinds for changing mailbox, selecting/scrolling mail, resizing
+- Flag/star messages? I never use this fature if IMAP...
+- Real `uxn` implementaions of reader/compose windows? Probably overkill
+
 ## messages
 
 Messages are in the format `[1][2:3][...]`:
+
 - byte 1 is the message type
 - bytes 2 and 3 are the length of the message, in bytes
 - bytes 4 and beyond are the message itself (payload) - won't be present if the length is 0
 
 Even messages go from `taro-ctl` to the `uxn` windows.
 
-- `0`: mailbox list
-- `2`: list mail in current mailbox (or search results)
+- `0`: mailbox list (truncated to 4k - this should be enough)
+- `2`: list mail in current mailbox (or search results) (truncated to 32k - if you need more, use search)
 
 Odd messages go from the `uxn` windows to `taro-ctl`.
 
@@ -30,4 +61,4 @@ Odd messages go from the `uxn` windows to `taro-ctl`.
 - `7`: refile mail; payload is the beginning and end of the mmsg range in u16, and then the mailbox name
 - `9`: trash mail; payload is the beginning and end of the mmsg range in u16
 - `11`: read mail; payload is a single u16 message number in the current sequence
--  `13`: compose mail; no payload
+- `13`: compose mail; no payload
diff --git a/mread b/mread
index 117b597..ee2eea3 100755
--- a/mread
+++ b/mread
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@ mhandle() {
 
 _mread() {
   local META
-  local this=$(mseq $@)
   mflag -S ${this}
+  local this=$(mseq $@)
   while true; do
     mshow ${this}