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diff --git a/docs/architecture.md b/docs/architecture.md
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+# Architecture
+
+OpenDC consists of four components: a Kotlin simulator, a MongoDB database, a Python
+Flask [API](/opendc-web/opendc-web-api), and a React.js [frontend](/opendc-web/opendc-web-ui).
+
+<p align="center">
+    <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/atlarge-research/opendc/master/misc/artwork/opendc-component-diagram.png" alt="OpenDC Component Diagram">
+</p>
+
+On the frontend, users can construct a topology by specifying a datacenter's rooms, racks and machines, and create
+scenarios to see how a workload trace runs on that topology. The frontend communicates with the web server over
+SocketIO, through a custom REST request/response layer. For example, the frontend might make a `GET` request
+to `/api/v1/users/{userId}`, but this request is completed via SocketIO, not plain HTTP requests. Note that the API
+itself can also be accessed by HTTP.
+
+The (Swagger/OpenAPI compliant) API spec specifies what requests the frontend can make to the web server. To view this
+specification, go to the [Swagger Editor](https://editor.swagger.io/) and paste in
+our [opendc-api-spec.yml](../opendc-api-spec.yml).
+
+The web server receives API requests and processes them in the database. When the frontend requests to run a new
+scenario, the web server adds it to the `scenarios` collection in the database and sets its `state` as `QUEUED`.
+
+The simulator monitors the database for `QUEUED` scenarios, and simulates them as they are submitted. The results of the
+simulations are processed and aggregated in memory. Afterwards, the aggregated summary is written to the database, which
+the frontend can then again retrieve via the web server.
diff --git a/docs/deploy.md b/docs/deploy.md
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+# Deploying OpenDC
+
+### Preamble
+
+The official way to run OpenDC is using Docker. Other options include building and running locally, and building and
+running to deploy on a server.
+
+For all of these options, you have to create a Google API Console project and client ID, which the OpenDC frontend and
+web server will use to authenticate users and requests.
+Follow [these steps](https://developers.google.com/identity/sign-in/web/sign-in) to make such a project. In the '
+Authorized JavaScript origins' and 'Authorized redirect URI' fields, be sure to add `http://localhost:8080` (frontend)
+, `http://localhost:8081` (api) and `https://localhost:3000` (frontend dev). Download the JSON of the OAuth 2.0 client
+ID you created from the Credentials tab, and specifically note the `client_id`, which you'll need to build OpenDC.
+
+### Installing Docker
+
+OpenDC uses [Docker](https://www.docker.com/) and [Docker Compose](https://docs.docker.com/compose/) to orchestrate the
+deployment of the software stack. Please refer to [Docker Desktop](https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop) for
+instructions on how install Docker on your machine.
+
+### Running OpenDC
+
+To build and run the full OpenDC stack locally on Linux or Mac, you first need to clone the project:
+
+```bash
+git clone https://github.com/atlarge-research/opendc.git
+
+# Enter the directory
+cd opendc/
+```
+
+In the directory you just entered, you need to set up a set of environment variables. To do this, create a file
+called `.env` in the `opendc` folder. In this file, replace `your-google-oauth-client-id` with your `client_id` from the
+OAuth client ID you created. For a standard setup, you can leave the other settings as-is.
+
+```.env
+MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME=root
+MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD=rootpassword
+MONGO_INITDB_DATABASE=admin
+OPENDC_DB=opendc
+OPENDC_DB_USERNAME=opendc
+OPENDC_DB_PASSWORD=opendcpassword
+OPENDC_FLASK_SECRET="This is a secret flask key, please change"
+OPENDC_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID=your-google-oauth-client-id
+OPENDC_API_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8081
+```
+
+We provide a list of default traces for you to experiment with. If you want to add others, place them in the `traces`
+directory and add entries to the database (see also [the database folder](database/mongo-init-opendc-db.sh))
+
+If you plan to publicly deploy, please also tweak the other settings. In that case, also check the `docker-compose.yml`
+and `docker-compose.pod.yml` for further instructions.
+
+Now, start the server:
+
+```bash
+# Build the Docker image
+docker-compose build
+
+# Start the containers
+docker-compose up
+```
+
+Wait a few seconds and open `http://localhost:8080` in your browser to use OpenDC. We recommend Google Chrome for the
+best development experience.
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diff --git a/docs/images/opendc-frontend-construction.png b/docs/images/opendc-frontend-construction.png
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