diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 6c24c44..4d59550 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 zed
+*.dSYM/
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fc1af64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+This is me coding along with Mr. [Tsoding](https://www.twitch.tv/tsoding)'s stream about creating a text editor from scratch using C.
diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index cd87d44..52876d5 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -2,4 +2,4 @@
 
 set -xe
 
-clang -Wall -Wextra -o zed main.c
+clang -Wall -Wextra -ggdb -o zed main.c
diff --git a/main.c b/main.c
index 78984b7..a5c8f3d 100644
--- a/main.c
+++ b/main.c
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 #include <string.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 
+#include <termios.h>
+
+#include <unistd.h>
+
 #define ZED_CAPACITY 1024
 
 typedef struct {
@@ -13,12 +17,24 @@ static Editor editor = {0};
 
 int main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
+    if (!isatty(0)) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "Please run in the terminal!\n");
+        return 1;
+    }
+
     if (argc < 2) {
         fprintf(stderr, "Usage: zed <input.txt>\n");
         fprintf(stderr, "ERROR: no input file was provided\n");
         return 1;
     }
 
+    // stores the state of the terminal
+    struct termios term;
+    if (tcgetattr(0, &term)) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "ERROR: could not save the state of the terminal\n");
+        return 1;
+    }
+
     const char *file_path = argv[1];
     FILE *f = fopen(file_path, "rb");
     if (f == NULL) {