diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index fb8235b..3c8d1f9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,2 +1,15 @@
 # flow-themes
 Themes compiler for Flow-Control, the text editor
+
+## Requirements
+
+ - zig 0.13
+ - hjson (installed in your PATH)
+
+## Build
+
+`zig build`
+
+This will download and compile all the themes and create a zig module
+in `zig-out` that can be referenced as a dependency from another project's
+`build.zig.zon`.
diff --git a/src/compile.zig b/src/compile.zig
index 733017c..466390e 100644
--- a/src/compile.zig
+++ b/src/compile.zig
@@ -959,7 +959,7 @@ fn hjson(data: []const u8) ![]const u8 {
         if (bytesRead == 0) break;
         try writer.writeAll(buffer[0..bytesRead]);
     }
-    const term = try child.wait();
+    const term = child.wait() catch |e| std.debug.panic("error running hjson: {any}", .{e});
     switch (term) {
         std.process.Child.Term.Exited => |code| if (code == 0) return out.toOwnedSlice(),
         else => {},