From bd69a8b6c33f56d1ea9eb83f0fc612b310d0a43d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Arun Isaac
Date: Sat, 4 Jan 2025 16:00:29 +0000
Subject: Add "How it works" section to README.

---
 README.md | 6 ++++++
 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+)

(limited to 'README.md')

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0b0cbfa..5e68609 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 This python script is a quick hack to download data from Globus via HTTPS and without having to set up any Globus-specific tools. This is convenient if you simply want to download data from a Globus collection, and don't wish to set up their complex proprietary tooling.
 
+# How it works
+
+We use [globus-sdk](https://pypi.org/project/globus-sdk/) to traverse the file tree in our Globus collection and obtain HTTPS links for them. Then, we download the files authenticating using cookies extracted from the Globus web app.
+
+Really, this is hacky abuse of the single file HTTPS download links that the Globus web app provides. Doing everything through globus-sdk would be preferable, but I haven't figured out how. And, it works for now.
+
 # Dependencies
 
 [globus-sdk](https://pypi.org/project/globus-sdk/) and requests are the only dependencies. The easiest way to obtain them is to use GNU Guix. You will need the [guix-bioinformatics channel](https://git.genenetwork.org/guix-bioinformatics/about/).
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