diff --git a/syntax.txt b/syntax.txt
new file mode 100644
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/syntax.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+example raw output:
+[{
+	"StdOut": [
+		{"processes": {"pid": 1, "name": "init"}}
+	]
+},
+{
+	"StdOut": [
+		{"processes": {"pid": 2, "name": "bash"}}
+	]
+}]
+
+example queries:
+$ destreamify "stdout"
+[
+	{"processes": {"pid": 1, "name": "init"},
+	{"processes": {"pid": 2, "name": "bash"}}
+]
+
+$ destreamify "stdout~processes"
+[
+	{"pid": 1", "name": "init"},
+	{"pid": 2", "name": "bash"},
+]
+
+
+if we had a specialls that output stdout like this:
+[
+	"weird_derp": {
+		"files": [{"name": ____}]
+	}
+]
+
+Then we would use
+$ specialls --json | tributary "stdout>weird_derp"
+[
+	{"files": [{"name": _____}, ...]},
+	{"files": [{"name": _____}, ...]},
+]
+
+Then we can do
+
+$ specialls --json | tributary "stdout>weird_derp" | cat --json
+
+
+
+also valid
+----------
+stdout>"file name">name
+stdout>"file>name">name
+
+not valid
+---------
+stdout>file name>name