diff --git a/main.py b/main.py
new file mode 100644
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/main.py
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+import flask
+from flask import render_template, jsonify, request, redirect
+import json
+import os
+import markdown
+
+app = flask.Flask(__name__)
+
+@app.route('/')
+def home():
+    return render_template('index.html')
+
+@app.route('/read')
+def readBook():
+    filepath = request.args.get('filepath')+"/book.md"
+    with open(filepath) as f:
+        mdtext = f.read()
+    renderedMd = markdown.markdown(mdtext)
+    finalHTML = "<a href='http://localhost:5000/'>Home</a>" + renderedMd
+    return finalHTML
+
+@app.route('/notes')
+def notesForBook():
+    notespath = request.args.get('filepath')+"/notes.txt"
+    with open(notespath) as f:
+        notestext = f.read()
+    return render_template('notes.html', path=notespath, notes=notestext)
+
+@app.route('/savenotes', methods=['POST'])
+def saveNotes():
+    path = request.form.get("path")
+    notes = request.form.get("notes")
+    with open(path, "w") as f:
+        f.write(notes)
+    return redirect("http://localhost:5000/", code=302)
+
+@app.route('/api/textbooks')
+def textbooks():
+    textbook_list = []
+    
+    dir = './textbooks' 
+
+    for dirpath, dirnames, filenames in os.walk(dir):
+        if 'manifest.json' in filenames:
+            manifest_path = os.path.join(dirpath, 'manifest.json')
+            try:
+                with open(manifest_path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+                    manifest_data = json.load(f) 
+                data = {
+                    "path": dirpath,
+                    "name": manifest_data.get("name"),
+                    "author": manifest_data.get("author")
+                }
+                textbook_list.append(data)
+                print(json.dumps(data, indent=2))
+            except:
+                pass
+                
+    return jsonify(textbook_list)
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    app.run(debug=True)
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diff --git a/static/background.jpg b/static/background.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3ce0e2a
Binary files /dev/null and b/static/background.jpg differ
diff --git a/templates/index.html b/templates/index.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9ec6bd4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/index.html
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html lang="en">
+<head>
+    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
+    <title>Textbooks</title>
+</head>
+<body>
+
+    <style>
+        body{
+            background-image: url("static/background.jpg");
+            font-family: 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Geneva, Verdana, sans-serif;
+            color: white;
+            text-align: center;
+        }
+        a{
+            color: white;
+        }
+        div{
+            max-width: 50vw;
+            margin: auto;
+        }
+    </style>
+
+    <h1>Textbook Software</h1>
+    <div id="main-container">
+        <p>textbooks loading</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <script>
+        async function renderData() {
+            const container = document.getElementById('main-container');
+            container.innerHTML = '<p>Fetching data from API...</p>';
+
+            const API_URL = 'http://localhost:5000/api/textbooks';
+            let items = [];
+            
+            const response = await fetch(API_URL);
+            items = await response.json(); 
+                
+            container.innerHTML = '';
+
+            if (items.length === 0) {
+                container.innerHTML = '<p>No texbooks</p>';
+                return;
+            }
+
+            items.forEach((item) => {
+                const itemDiv = document.createElement('div');
+                
+                itemDiv.appendChild(document.createElement('hr')); 
+
+                const contentDiv = document.createElement('div');
+                
+                contentDiv.innerHTML = `
+                    <p>${item.name}</p>
+                    <p>By ${item.author}</p>
+                `;
+                
+                const linkButton = document.createElement('a');
+                linkButton.textContent = `[Read ${item.name}]`;
+                linkButton.href = `read?filepath=${encodeURIComponent(item.path)}`;
+                linkButton.title = `go to ${item.name}`;
+                contentDiv.appendChild(linkButton);
+
+                const notesButton = document.createElement('a');
+                notesButton.textContent = `[Notes for ${item.name}]`;
+                notesButton.href = `notes?filepath=${encodeURIComponent(item.path)}`;
+                notesButton.title = `view notes for ${item.name}`;
+                contentDiv.appendChild(notesButton);
+
+
+                itemDiv.appendChild(contentDiv);
+                
+                container.appendChild(itemDiv);
+            });
+            
+            container.appendChild(document.createElement('hr'));
+
+        }
+
+        document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', renderData);
+    </script>
+
+</body>
+</html>
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diff --git a/templates/notes.html b/templates/notes.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1458b27
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/notes.html
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html lang="en">
+<head>
+    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
+    <title>Notes</title>
+</head>
+<body>
+    <a href="http://localhost:5000/">Home (No save)</a>
+    <form action="http://localhost:5000/savenotes" method="post">
+        <input for="path" name="path" type="hidden" value="{{ path }}" style="display: hidden;"></input>
+        <textarea for="notes" name="notes">{{ notes }}</textarea>
+        <input type="submit" value="save"></input>
+    </form>
+</body>
+</html>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/textbooks/textbook1/book.md b/textbooks/textbook1/book.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d185572
--- /dev/null
+++ b/textbooks/textbook1/book.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# Textbook 1
+
+This is a demo textbook
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/textbooks/textbook1/manifest.json b/textbooks/textbook1/manifest.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1897241
--- /dev/null
+++ b/textbooks/textbook1/manifest.json
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+{
+    "name":"Textbook1",
+    "author":"author"
+}
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diff --git a/textbooks/textbook1/notes.txt b/textbooks/textbook1/notes.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5ff0ac3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/textbooks/textbook1/notes.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+my notes 12345
\ No newline at end of file
