diff --git a/xos/configurations/devel/README b/xos/configurations/devel/README
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-This configuration launches an XOS container on Cloudlab that runs the XOS develserver. The container is left running
-in the backgorund.
-
diff --git a/xos/configurations/devel/README.md b/xos/configurations/devel/README.md
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+# XOS development environment
+
+This configuration can be used to do basic end-to-end development of XOS.  It launches
+an XOS container, runs the XOS develserver, and configures XOS to talk to an OpenStack
+backend.  
+
+## How to run it
+
+The configuration can be either run on [CloudLab](http://cloudlab.us) (controlling
+an OpenStack backend set up by a CloudLab profile) or used with a basic
+[DevStack](http://docs.openstack.org/developer/devstack/) configuration.
+
+### CloudLab
+
+To get started on CloudLab:
+* Create an experiment using the *OpenStack* profile.  Choose *Kilo* and
+disable security groups.
+* Wait until you get an email from CloudLab with title "OpenStack Instance Finished Setting Up".
+* Login to the *ctl* node of your experiment and run:
+```
+ctl:~$ git clone https://github.com/open-cloud/xos.git
+ctl:~$ cd xos/xos/configurations/devel/
+ctl:~/xos/xos/configurations/cord$ make cloudlab
+```
+
+### DevStack
+
+The following instructions can be used to install DevStack and XOS together
+on a single node.  This setup has been run successfully in a VirtualBox VM
+with 2 CPUs and 4096 GB RAM.
+```
+~$ git clone https://github.com/open-cloud/xos.git
+~$ git clone https://git.openstack.org/openstack-dev/devstack
+~$ cd devstack
+~/devstack$ cp ../xos/xos/configurations/devstack/local.conf .
+~/devstack$ ./stack.sh
+~/devstack$ cd ../xos/xos/configurations/devel/
+~/xos/xos/configurations/cord$ make devstack
+```
+
+Note that there are some issues with the networking setup in this configuration;
+you will be able to create VMs but they are not accessible on the network.  However it is
+possible to log into a VM by first entering the appropriate network namespace.
+
+## What you get
+
+XOS will be set up with a single Deployment and Site.  It should be in a state where
+you can create slices and associate instances with them.