diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5e9762b91..ddc4671d8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ https://signal.org/docs/
 How to Build
 ------------
 
+This project uses [FoundationDB](https://www.foundationdb.org/) and requires the FoundationDB client library to be installed on the host system. With that in place, the server can be built and tested with:
+
 ```shell script
 $ ./mvnw clean test
 ```