diff --git a/bootstrap.sh b/bootstrap.sh
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/bootstrap.sh
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+#!/bin/bash
+# bootstrap.sh — download and unpack sky-cam from GitHub.
+#
+# Usage:
+#   bash bootstrap.sh [TARGET_DIR]
+#
+# Downloads the latest sky-cam from GitHub into TARGET_DIR (default: ./sky-cam),
+# then tells you what to do next.
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+TARGET="${1:-sky-cam}"
+REPO="outis1one/sky-cam"
+BRANCH="main"
+URL="https://github.com/$REPO/archive/refs/heads/$BRANCH.tar.gz"
+
+echo "Downloading sky-cam from GitHub..."
+curl -fL "$URL" | tar xz
+mv "sky-cam-$BRANCH" "$TARGET"
+
+echo ""
+echo "Done. Next steps:"
+echo "  1. Edit $TARGET/sky-cam.conf"
+echo "     — SCRIPT_DIR   full path to the directory you'll run scripts from"
+echo "     — BASE_DIR     where your camera images live"
+echo "     — MUSIC_DIR    path to your Vivaldi Four Seasons audio files"
+echo "     — CAM_NAME     camera subfolder name (e.g. sunrise)"
+echo "     — LATITUDE / LONGITUDE / TIMEZONE   your location"
+echo "     — Mattermost credentials (mattermost_url, access_token, channel_id)"
+echo ""
+echo "  2. cd $TARGET && ./install.sh"