diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 2d4e471c..c7564f22 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,9 +1,29 @@
-.PHONY: all lint test
+REGION ?= us-west-2
+ENV ?= stage
+ARGS ?= --interactive
 
-all: lint test
+.PHONY: all lint test build
+
+all: lint test build
+
+# run one time only
+prerequisite:
+	sudo python setup.py install
 
 lint:
 	flake8 stacker_blueprints
 
 test:
 	python setup.py test
+
+build:
+	stacker build --region ${REGION} ${ARGS} conf/${ENV}.env conf/example.yaml
+
+diff:
+	stacker diff --region ${REGION} ${ARGS} conf/${ENV}.env conf/example.yaml
+
+info:
+	stacker info --region ${REGION} ${ARGS} conf/${ENV}.env conf/example.yaml
+
+destroy:
+	stacker destroy --region ${REGION} ${ARGS} conf/${ENV}.env conf/example.yaml
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..02ab16c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+stacker_blueprints
+==================
+
+[![circleci](https://circleci.com/gh/cloudtools/stacker_blueprints.svg?style=shield)](https://circleci.com/gh/cloudtools/stacker_blueprints)
+[![pypi package](https://badge.fury.io/py/stacker_blueprints.svg)](https://badge.fury.io/py/stacker_blueprints)
+[![slack](https://empire-slack.herokuapp.com/badge.svg)](https://empire-slack.herokuapp.com)
+
+An attempt at a common Blueprint library for use with [stacker](https://github.com/cloudtools/stacker).
+
+# Quick start
+
+>NOTES: it will create aws resources and generate cost on your aws account. `make destroy` them all if not required any more.
+
+If you're new to stacker you may use [stacker_cookiecutter](https://github.com/cloudtools/stacker_cookiecutter) to setup your project.
+
+1) Make sure you [set up authentication credentials to access aws](http://boto3.readthedocs.io/en/latest/guide/quickstart.html#configuration)
+
+2) Review files [conf/stage.env](conf/stage.env) and [conf/example.yaml](conf/example.yaml)
+
+3) Adjust namespace in [conf/stage.env](conf/stage.env) to a global unique name
+
+### Build the stacks
+
+Build full stacks (vpc, bastion, myDB, myWeb)
+
+    $ git clone https://github.com/cloudtools/stacker_blueprints.git
+    $ cd stacker_blueprints
+    $ make build
+
+    # If you have other environment files, such as prod.env
+    $ make build ENV=prod
+
+    # If you want to create stacks in other region
+    $ make build REGION=ap-southeast-2
+
+### Other commands
+
+    $ make info
+    $ make diff
+    $ make destroy
+
+### Try other examples
+
+There are examples under folder `conf`, for example, you want to run test on rds stack, you can easily play with below command
+
+    stacker build --region us-west-2 conf/rds/mysql.env conf/rds/mysql.yaml
diff --git a/conf/example.yaml b/conf/example.yaml
index d926559f..93230f97 100644
--- a/conf/example.yaml
+++ b/conf/example.yaml
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ stacks:
   - name: bastion
     class_path: stacker_blueprints.bastion.Bastion
     enabled: true
-    parameters:
+    variables:
       # Extends the parameters dict with the contents of the vpc_parameters
       # anchor. Basically we're including all VPC Outputs in the parameters
       # of the bastion stack. Note: Stacker figures out, automatically, which
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ stacks:
     # stack name "myDB" on the command line with --force
     locked: true
     enabled: true
-    parameters:
+    variables:
       << : *vpc_parameters
       InstanceType: db.m3.medium
       AllocatedStorage: 10
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ stacks:
   - name: myWeb
     class_path: stacker_blueprints.asg.AutoscalingGroup
     enabled: true
-    parameters:
+    variables:
       << : *vpc_parameters
       InstanceType: m3.medium
       ImageName: ubuntu1404
diff --git a/conf/stage.env b/conf/stage.env
index 8f181313..bde0ca28 100644
--- a/conf/stage.env
+++ b/conf/stage.env
@@ -6,4 +6,4 @@
 # will be used to prefix the CloudFormation stack names as well as the s3
 # bucket that contains revisions of the stacker templates. This is the only
 # required environment variable.
-namespace:
+namespace: stacker_blueprints