diff --git a/developer/setup.md b/developer/setup.md
index 44762aa..ee65b3b 100644
--- a/developer/setup.md
+++ b/developer/setup.md
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ Ready to hack on your site? Here's a quick overview.
 * [Go 1.13+](https://golang.org/dl/)
 * [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/en/download/)
 
-## Setting up
+## Quick start
 
 After installing Go and Node.js, run the following commands to build, configure, and run the application.
 
@@ -20,3 +20,89 @@ make build   # Compile the application
 make install # Config, generate keys, setup database, install LESS compiler
 make run     # Run the application
 ```
+
+## Detailed steps
+
+Use the following steps to build WriteFreely without Make. First, get the code:
+
+```bash
+git clone https://github.com/writeas/writefreely.git
+cd writefreely
+```
+
+Next, install the bindata generator and create `bindata.go` (needed for a successful build).
+
+```bash
+go get -u github.com/jteeuwen/go-bindata/go-bindata
+go-bindata -pkg writefreely -ignore=\\.gitignore schema.sql sqlite.sql
+```
+
+Finally, build the `writefreely` binary with SQLite support. (Remove `-tags='sqlite'` if you don't need SQLite support.)
+
+```bash
+go build -v -tags='sqlite' ./cmd/writefreely/
+```
+
+You can now run WriteFreely! But you'll need one more step to generate some assets and successfully run an instance.
+
+### Building site assets
+
+You'll need Node.js and LESS installed to generate WriteFreely static assets. Install LESS:
+
+```bash
+npm install -g less
+```
+
+Next, compile all stylesheets from the `less` directory, creating them in the `static/css/` directory:
+
+```bash
+cd less
+export CSSDIR=../static/css/
+lessc app.less --clean-css="--s1 --advanced" $(CSSDIR)write.css
+lessc fonts.less --clean-css="--s1 --advanced" $(CSSDIR)fonts.css
+lessc icons.less --clean-css="--s1 --advanced" $(CSSDIR)icons.css
+```
+
+Now you can run and distribute WriteFreely! 🎉
+
+Beyond this, you'll initialize your individual instance.
+
+### Application initiation
+
+With your build complete, create a configuration file, encryption keys, and initialize your database.
+
+#### Config file
+
+Most users will want the interactive configuration process. Run with:
+
+```bash
+writefreely config start
+```
+
+For other cases where you only need a blank configuration, you can non-interactively generate `config.ini` with this command:
+
+```bash
+writefreely config generate
+```
+
+#### Encryption keys
+
+Generate encryption keys needed for storing user sessions and private data:
+
+```bash
+writefreely keys generate
+```
+
+#### Database
+
+With your instance configured for a database, run the following command to create the necessary tables:
+
+```bash
+writefreely db init
+```
+
+### Run WriteFreely
+
+```bash
+writefreely
+```