diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
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--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -13,6 +13,67 @@ a library or application, either by hand or via a ppx.
 - [x] counters
 - [ ] other metrics?
 
+### Usage
+
+To instrument your code, you can simply add `trace` to your dune/opam files, and then
+write code like such:
+
+```ocaml
+let f x =
+  Trace.with_span ~__FILE__ ~__LINE__ "inside-f" @@ fun _sp ->
+  (* … code for f *)
+
+let g x =
+  Trace.with_span ~__FILE__ ~__LINE__ "inside-g" @@ fun _sp ->
+  let y = f x in
+  (* … code for f *)
+
+let () =
+  Some_trace_backend.setup () @@ fun () ->
+  let result = g 42 in
+  print_result result
+```
+
+The file `test/t1.ml` follows this pattern, using `trace-tef` as a simple backend
+that emits one JSON object per span/message:
+
+```ocaml
+let run () =
+  Trace.set_process_name "main";
+  Trace.set_thread_name "t1";
+
+  let n = ref 0 in
+
+  for _i = 1 to 50 do
+    Trace.with_span ~__FILE__ ~__LINE__ "outer.loop" @@ fun _sp ->
+    for _j = 2 to 5 do
+      incr n;
+      Trace.with_span ~__FILE__ ~__LINE__ "inner.loop" @@ fun _sp ->
+      Trace.messagef (fun k -> k "hello %d %d" _i _j);
+      Trace.message "world";
+      Trace.counter_int "n" !n
+    done
+  done
+
+let () =
+  Trace_tef.with_setup ~out:(`File "trace.json") () @@ fun () ->
+  run ()
+```
+
+After running this, the file "trace.json" will contain something like:
+```json
+[{"pid":2,"name":"process_name","ph":"M","args": {"name":"main"}},
+{"pid":2,"tid": 3,"name":"thread_name","ph":"M","args": {"name":"t1"}},
+{"pid":2,"cat":"","tid": 3,"ts": 2.00,"name":"hello 1 2","ph":"I"},
+{"pid":2,"cat":"","tid": 3,"ts": 3.00,"name":"world","ph":"I"},
+{"pid":2,"tid":3,"ts":4.00,"name":"c","ph":"C","args": {"n":1}},
+…
+```
+
+Opening it in https://ui.perfetto.dev we get something like this:
+
+![screenshot of perfetto UI](media/ui.png)
+
 ### Backends
 
 Concrete tracing or observability formats such as:
diff --git a/media/ui.png b/media/ui.png
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