diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2ebe6d4..4e43969 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -10,9 +10,106 @@ Linux, Mac, Windows, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD.
 not every feature is available on every platform.
 cosmopolitan already does a tremendous job at
 polyfilling missing features across platforms,
-but pre-existing software still takes a lot of
+but pre-existing software may take a lot of
 patching before becoming fully functional.
 
+## containers
+
+in order of dependence, then alphabetical order.
+
+### Phase 1
+
+  * **notwa-util:** convenient shell scripts for
+    augmenting common tasks relating to building.
+    this also builds a busybox rescue shell,
+    configured specifically for containers.
+
+### Phase 2
+
+  * **cosmo-bootstrap:** builds the basic libraries (i.e.
+    cosmopolitan libc) and binaries to bootstrap itself
+    and build other software against.
+
+### Phase 3
+
+  * **cosmo-all:** builds almost everything else from
+    the cosmopolitan repository (i.e. first-class third-party support)
+    the "flavor" used can be different than that of cosmo-bootstrap.
+
+  * **cosmo-dist:** only contains the essentials from cosmo-bootstrap.
+
+  * **rescue:** a minimal container used as a base
+    for many of the simple containers in phase 4.
+
+### Phase 4
+
+  * **assimilate:** converts Actually Portable Executables
+    into native binaries. typically unnecessary, but sometimes nice.
+
+  * **bd:** (TODO)
+
+  * **bing:** (TODO)
+
+  * **blinkenlights:** (TODO)
+
+  * **cosmo-awk:** Actually Portable awk (fork of One True Awk)
+
+  * **cosmo-base:** used to build other containers in phase 5.
+
+  * **cosmo-chibicc:** chibicc (TODO: version?)
+    with many extensions.
+
+  * **cosmo-lua:** Actually Portable Lua
+
+  * **cosmo-make:** Landlocked Make (fork of GNU Make)
+
+  * **cosmo-python:** Actually Portable Python 3.6.14
+
+  * **cosmo-quickjs:** quickjs (2021-03-27)
+
+  * **cosmo-sed:** Actually Portable sed (fork of NetBSD sed)
+
+  * **cosmo-sqlite:** sqlite3 (3350500)
+
+  * **fold:** (TODO)
+
+  * **greenbean:** (TODO)
+
+  * **hello:** (TODO)
+
+  * **life:** (TODO)
+
+  * **memzoom:** (TODO)
+
+  * **mkdeps:** (TODO)
+
+  * **pledge:** (TODO)
+
+  * **printimage:** (TODO)
+
+  * **printvideo:** (TODO)
+
+  * **redbean:** (TODO)
+
+  * **tinyemu:** (TODO)
+
+  * **unbourne:** a fork of dash (v0.5.11.5) with extended interactivity.
+
+  * **unveil:** (TODO)
+
+### Phase 5
+
+  * **cosmo-kuroko**: kuroko (bleeding edge), a dialect of Python 3.
+    kuroko combines Python's syntax with Lua's level of embeddability,
+    and it can be used standalone as well.
+
+  * **cosmo-muon**: muon (bleeding edge), a reimplementation of mesen, written in C.
+
+  * **cosmo-perl**: Actually Portable Perl, thanks to Gavin Hayes
+
+  * **cosmo-yices**: yices (bleeding edge), SAT + SMT (SMTLIB, SMTLIB2) solvers.
+    also includes **cosmo-kissat** (bleeding edge), one of the best SAT solvers.
+
 ## building
 
 on most Linux distros with podman properly installed and configured,