--- /dev/null
+# The basics
+
+Foundational knowledge on using and configuring Black.
+
+_Black_ is a well-behaved Unix-style command-line tool:
+
+- it does nothing if no sources are passed to it;
+- it will read from standard input and write to standard output if `-` is used as the
+ filename;
+- it only outputs messages to users on standard error;
+- exits with code 0 unless an internal error occurred (or `--check` was used).
+
+## Usage
+
+To get started right away with sensible defaults:
+
+```sh
+black {source_file_or_directory}
+```
+
+You can run _Black_ as a package if running it as a script doesn't work:
+
+```sh
+python -m black {source_file_or_directory}
+```
+
+### Command line options
+
+_Black_ has quite a few knobs these days, although _Black_ is opinionated so style
+configuration options are deliberately limited and rarely added. You can list them by
+running `black --help`.
+
+<details>
+
+<summary>Help output</summary>
+
+```{program-output} black --help
+
+```
+
+</details>
+
+### Code input alternatives
+
+#### Standard Input
+
+_Black_ supports formatting code via stdin, with the result being printed to stdout.
+Just let _Black_ know with `-` as the path.
+
+```console
+$ echo "print ( 'hello, world' )" | black -
+print("hello, world")
+reformatted -
+All done! ✨ 🍰 ✨
+1 file reformatted.
+```
+
+**Tip:** if you need _Black_ to treat stdin input as a file passed directly via the CLI,
+use `--stdin-filename`. Useful to make sure _Black_ will respect the `--force-exclude`
+option on some editors that rely on using stdin.
+
+#### As a string
+
+You can also pass code as a string using the `-c` / `--code` option.
+
+```console
+$ black --code "print ( 'hello, world' )"
+print("hello, world")
+```
+
+### Writeback and reporting
+
+By default _Black_ reformats the files given and/or found in place. Sometimes you need
+_Black_ to just tell you what it _would_ do without actually rewriting the Python files.
+
+There's two variations to this mode that are independently enabled by their respective
+flags. Both variations can be enabled at once.
+
+#### Exit code
+
+Passing `--check` will make _Black_ exit with:
+
+- code 0 if nothing would change;
+- code 1 if some files would be reformatted; or
+- code 123 if there was an internal error
+
+```console
+$ black test.py --check
+All done! ✨ 🍰 ✨
+1 file would be left unchanged.
+$ echo $?
+0
+
+$ black test.py --check
+would reformat test.py
+Oh no! 💥 💔 💥
+1 file would be reformatted.
+$ echo $?
+1
+
+$ black test.py --check
+error: cannot format test.py: INTERNAL ERROR: Black produced code that is not equivalent to the source. Please report a bug on https://github.com/psf/black/issues. This diff might be helpful: /tmp/blk_kjdr1oog.log
+Oh no! 💥 💔 💥
+1 file would fail to reformat.
+$ echo $?
+123
+```
+
+#### Diffs
+
+Passing `--diff` will make _Black_ print out diffs that indicate what changes _Black_
+would've made. They are printed to stdout so capturing them is simple.
+
+If you'd like colored diffs, you can enable them with the `--color`.
+
+```console
+$ black test.py --diff
+--- test.py 2021-03-08 22:23:40.848954 +0000
++++ test.py 2021-03-08 22:23:47.126319 +0000
+@@ -1 +1 @@
+-print ( 'hello, world' )
++print("hello, world")
+would reformat test.py
+All done! ✨ 🍰 ✨
+1 file would be reformatted.
+```
+
+### Output verbosity
+
+_Black_ in general tries to produce the right amount of output, balancing between
+usefulness and conciseness. By default, _Black_ emits files modified and error messages,
+plus a short summary.
+
+```console
+$ black src/
+error: cannot format src/black_primer/cli.py: Cannot parse: 5:6: mport asyncio
+reformatted src/black_primer/lib.py
+reformatted src/blackd/__init__.py
+reformatted src/black/__init__.py
+Oh no! 💥 💔 💥
+3 files reformatted, 2 files left unchanged, 1 file failed to reformat.
+```
+
+Passing `-v` / `--verbose` will cause _Black_ to also emit messages about files that
+were not changed or were ignored due to exclusion patterns. If _Black_ is using a
+configuration file, a blue message detailing which one it is using will be emitted.
+
+```console
+$ black src/ -v
+Using configuration from /tmp/pyproject.toml.
+src/blib2to3 ignored: matches the --extend-exclude regular expression
+src/_black_version.py wasn't modified on disk since last run.
+src/black/__main__.py wasn't modified on disk since last run.
+error: cannot format src/black_primer/cli.py: Cannot parse: 5:6: mport asyncio
+reformatted src/black_primer/lib.py
+reformatted src/blackd/__init__.py
+reformatted src/black/__init__.py
+Oh no! 💥 💔 💥
+3 files reformatted, 2 files left unchanged, 1 file failed to reformat
+```
+
+Passing `-q` / `--quiet` will cause _Black_ to stop emitting all non-critial output.
+Error messages will still be emitted (which can silenced by `2>/dev/null`).
+
+```console
+$ black src/ -q
+error: cannot format src/black_primer/cli.py: Cannot parse: 5:6: mport asyncio
+```
+
+### Versions
+
+You can check the version of _Black_ you have installed using the `--version` flag.
+
+```console
+$ black --version
+black, version 21.9b0
+```
+
+An option to require a specific version to be running is also provided.
+
+```console
+$ black --required-version 21.9b0 -c "format = 'this'"
+format = "this"
+$ black --required-version 31.5b2 -c "still = 'beta?!'"
+Oh no! 💥 💔 💥 The required version does not match the running version!
+```
+
+This is useful for example when running _Black_ in multiple environments that haven't
+necessarily installed the correct version. This option can be set in a configuration
+file for consistent results across environments.
+
+## Configuration via a file
+
+_Black_ is able to read project-specific default values for its command line options
+from a `pyproject.toml` file. This is especially useful for specifying custom
+`--include` and `--exclude`/`--force-exclude`/`--extend-exclude` patterns for your
+project.
+
+**Pro-tip**: If you're asking yourself "Do I need to configure anything?" the answer is
+"No". _Black_ is all about sensible defaults. Applying those defaults will have your
+code in compliance with many other _Black_ formatted projects.
+
+### What on Earth is a `pyproject.toml` file?
+
+[PEP 518](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0518/) defines `pyproject.toml` as a
+configuration file to store build system requirements for Python projects. With the help
+of tools like [Poetry](https://python-poetry.org/) or
+[Flit](https://flit.readthedocs.io/en/latest/) it can fully replace the need for
+`setup.py` and `setup.cfg` files.
+
+### Where _Black_ looks for the file
+
+By default _Black_ looks for `pyproject.toml` starting from the common base directory of
+all files and directories passed on the command line. If it's not there, it looks in
+parent directories. It stops looking when it finds the file, or a `.git` directory, or a
+`.hg` directory, or the root of the file system, whichever comes first.
+
+If you're formatting standard input, _Black_ will look for configuration starting from
+the current working directory.
+
+You can use a "global" configuration, stored in a specific location in your home
+directory. This will be used as a fallback configuration, that is, it will be used if
+and only if _Black_ doesn't find any configuration as mentioned above. Depending on your
+operating system, this configuration file should be stored as:
+
+- Windows: `~\.black`
+- Unix-like (Linux, MacOS, etc.): `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/black` (`~/.config/black` if the
+ `XDG_CONFIG_HOME` environment variable is not set)
+
+Note that these are paths to the TOML file itself (meaning that they shouldn't be named
+as `pyproject.toml`), not directories where you store the configuration. Here, `~`
+refers to the path to your home directory. On Windows, this will be something like
+`C:\\Users\UserName`.
+
+You can also explicitly specify the path to a particular file that you want with
+`--config`. In this situation _Black_ will not look for any other file.
+
+If you're running with `--verbose`, you will see a blue message if a file was found and
+used.
+
+Please note `blackd` will not use `pyproject.toml` configuration.
+
+### Configuration format
+
+As the file extension suggests, `pyproject.toml` is a
+[TOML](https://github.com/toml-lang/toml) file. It contains separate sections for
+different tools. _Black_ is using the `[tool.black]` section. The option keys are the
+same as long names of options on the command line.
+
+Note that you have to use single-quoted strings in TOML for regular expressions. It's
+the equivalent of r-strings in Python. Multiline strings are treated as verbose regular
+expressions by Black. Use `[ ]` to denote a significant space character.
+
+<details>
+<summary>Example <code>pyproject.toml</code></summary>
+
+```toml
+[tool.black]
+line-length = 88
+target-version = ['py37']
+include = '\.pyi?$'
+extend-exclude = '''
+# A regex preceded with ^/ will apply only to files and directories
+# in the root of the project.
+^/foo.py # exclude a file named foo.py in the root of the project (in addition to the defaults)
+'''
+```
+
+</details>
+
+### Lookup hierarchy
+
+Command-line options have defaults that you can see in `--help`. A `pyproject.toml` can
+override those defaults. Finally, options provided by the user on the command line
+override both.
+
+_Black_ will only ever use one `pyproject.toml` file during an entire run. It doesn't
+look for multiple files, and doesn't compose configuration from different levels of the
+file hierarchy.
+
+## Next steps
+
+You've probably noted that not all of the options you can pass to _Black_ have been
+covered. Don't worry, the rest will be covered in a later section.
+
+A good next step would be configuring auto-discovery so `black .` is all you need
+instead of laborously listing every file or directory. You can get started by heading
+over to [File collection and discovery](./file_collection_and_discovery.md).
+
+Another good choice would be setting up an
+[integration with your editor](../integrations/editors.md) of choice or with
+[pre-commit for source version control](../integrations/source_version_control.md).