diff --git a/README b/README
index 977cd50..aacaf83 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -51,4 +51,6 @@ Then run honk.
 
 ./honk
 
+Refer also to the docs directory, in particular manual.txt.
+
 Busy honk instances may use megabytes of memory.
diff --git a/docs/manual.txt b/docs/manual.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..54aa283
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/manual.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+
+Instructions for running of the honk.
+
+-- css
+
+Custom CSS may be provided by creating a views/local.css file.
+
+-- message
+
+A custom server message may be set adding a ('servermsg', 'message') entry to
+the config table using sqlite3.
+
+-- emus
+
+Custom emus may be provided by creating and populating the emus directory.
+emus may be referenced when composing a honk via colon wrapping. How pleasant.
+This :example: will be replaced by emus/example.png.
diff --git a/ping.txt b/docs/ping.txt
similarity index 99%
rename from ping.txt
rename to docs/ping.txt
index 3178374..91a91dc 100644
--- a/ping.txt
+++ b/docs/ping.txt
@@ -84,4 +84,3 @@ Specific problem solving instructions are not provided here.
 
 It may be helpful to have a variant of Ping that does perform retries to test
 recovery after disconnect.
-
diff --git a/security.txt b/docs/security.txt
similarity index 100%
rename from security.txt
rename to docs/security.txt
diff --git a/spec.txt b/docs/spec.txt
similarity index 97%
rename from spec.txt
rename to docs/spec.txt
index 5856a29..e57a73b 100644
--- a/spec.txt
+++ b/docs/spec.txt
@@ -14,8 +14,6 @@ for administration as well.
 The config table contains settings, some of which may not be editable via the
 normal interface.
 
-The welcome message on the first page is stored as servermsg.
-
 For development purposes, adding a config value (debug, 1) to the database
 will disable caching and hot reload templates. It's not meant to be
 harmful in production, just less efficient.