diff --git a/README.txt b/README.txt
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+This is a README that contains directions for setting up and compiling the
+fuzzing target.
+
+Set up fuzzer:
+Run ./setup.sh
+	This script contains two parts: install packages and compiling the
+	fuzzer. 
+	This script will install the necessary packages needed by the fuzzer
+	and check for which version of the service is installed. The script
+	should be run in a clean fuzzing-specific directory named "fuzzing".
+	Later steps will not work if the directory is not named "fuzzing".
+	This script will then Git clone and setup the OptFuzz directory,
+	creating an OptFuzz subdirectory.
+Compiling the target:
+Navigate to the directory jsoncpp, which should be located as a sub-directory
+in the fuzzing-specific directory. This script will only work if the 
+fuzzing-specific directory is named "fuzzing". 
+Run ./new_build_aflpp.sh
+	The script will clean out the jsoncpp subdirectory, run the pre-
+	installation script, and set various enviornment variables. It
+	will the perform various other operations to compile the target.
diff --git a/setup.sh b/setup.sh
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+++ b/setup.sh
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+#!/bin/bash
+
+#install packages 
+
+   sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y install --no-install-suggests --no-install-recommends automake cmake meson ninja-build bison flex build-essential git python3 python3-dev python3-setuptools python-is-python3 libtool libtool-bin libglib2.0-dev libcairo2-dev wget vim jupp nano bash-completion less apt-utils apt-transport-https ca-certificates gnupg dialog libpixman-1-dev gnuplot-nox unzip screen beanstalkd python3-pip python3-venv && sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y install --no-install-suggests --no-install-recommends lsb-release wget software-properties-common gnupg
+
+wget https://apt.llvm.org/llvm.sh
+chmod +x llvm.sh
+sudo ./llvm.sh 15
+
+sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/clang clang /usr/bin/clang-15 10 --slave /usr/bin/clang++ clang++ /usr/bin/clang++-15 --slave /usr/bin/opt opt /usr/bin/opt-15
+
+sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/lib/llvm llvm /usr/lib/llvm-15 20 --slave /usr/bin/llvm-config llvm-config /usr/bin/llvm-config-15 --slave /usr/bin/llvm-link llvm-link /usr/bin/llvm-link-15
+
+# Import and setup OptFuzz
+
+# Check if OptFuzzer directory exists
+if [ ! -d "OptFuzzer" ]; then
+    echo "OptFuzzer directory does not exist. Cloning repository..."
+    git clone https://github.com/FOX-Fuzz/FOX.git OptFuzzer
+else
+    echo "OptFuzzer directory already exists. Skipping git clone."
+fi
+
+cd ./OptFuzzer
+export CC=clang-15 && export CXX=clang++-15 && make clean && \
+    make 
+
+# Check if the symbolic link already exists
+if [ ! -L /usr/local/bin/llvm-nm ]; then
+    echo "Creating symbolic link for llvm-nm..."
+    sudo ln -s /usr/bin/llvm-nm-15 /usr/local/bin/llvm-nm
+else
+    echo "Symbolic link for llvm-nm already exists. Skipping this step."
+fi
+