diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8ff156d..70b7d71 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ the same format as gmi (gemtext), but with the following line types:
 
 `&` add this line to the gmi file but not to the html file
 
+the `gmo.nanorc` file provides syntax highlighting for the format in nano :)
+
 # wikilinks
 
 ## inline wikilinks
diff --git a/gmo.nanorc b/gmo.nanorc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c24e778
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gmo.nanorc
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+# include this file in your ~/.nanorc:
+# include "path/to/gmo.nanorc"
+
+syntax "gmo" "\.gm[oi]$"
+
+# gemtext
+# headers
+color cyan "^#{1,3}.+$"
+# links
+color green "^=>.+$"
+# pre
+color blue start="```" end="```"
+# list
+color bold,black "^\*"
+
+# gmo
+# wikilinks
+color yellow "\{(\w| )+\}"
+# htmlonly
+color magenta "^\+.+$"
+# gemtextonly
+color lightred "^&.+$"