diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index a9e9225..dd73b1b 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -2,3 +2,5 @@
 	path = src/wiki
 	url = https://tildegit.org/cafe/wiki
 	branch = HEAD
+[submodule "wiki"]
+	branch = main
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6a90f08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+after cloning, make sure to
+	git submodule init
+	git submodule update
+the build script will also update the wiki submodule on each run
diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index 901c5cd..240110d 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 #umask 0113
 
+git submodule update
+
 #. in reference to src/
 for path in . ./wiki;do
   tmpindex=$(mktemp --suffix '.md')  # for generating list of markdown links for index.html