diff --git a/tutorial/001-the-host/README.md b/tutorial/001-the-host/README.md
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index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..dd87ac5117fbd9c754b868d119d5b6543956d3b2
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+# The libp2p 'host'
+For most applications, the host is the basic building block you'll need to get
+started. This guide will show how to construct and use a simple host.
+The host is an abstraction that manages services on top of a swarm. It provides
+a clean interface to connect to a service on a given remote peer.
+
+First, you'll need an ID, and a place to store that ID. To generate a 'test'
+ID, you can do the following:
+```go
+import (
+	testutil "github.com/libp2p/go-testutil"
+	pstore "github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-peerstore"
+)
+
+// For toy applications, this is an easy way to get an identity
+ident, err := testutil.RandIdentity()
+if err != nil {
+	panic(err)
+}
+
+// We've created the identity, now we need to store it.
+// A peerstore holds information about peers, including your own
+ps := pstore.NewPeerstore()
+
+// An identity is essentially a public/private keypair
+ps.AddPrivKey(ident.ID(), ident.PrivateKey())
+ps.AddPubKey(ident.ID(), ident.PublicKey())
+```
+
+Next, you'll need at least one address that you want to listen on. You can go
+from a string to a multiaddr like this:
+```go
+import ma "github.com/multiformats/go-multiaddr"
+
+...
+
+maddr, err := ma.NewMultiaddr("/ip4/0.0.0.0/tcp/9000")
+if err != nil {
+	panic(err)
+}
+```
+
+Now you know who you are, and where you live (in a manner of speaking). The
+next step is setting up a 'swarm network' to handle all the peers you will
+connect to. The swarm handles incoming connections from other peers, and
+handles the negotiation of new outbound connections.
+```go
+import (
+	"context"
+	swarm "github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-swarm"
+)
+
+// Make a context to govern the lifespan of the swarm
+ctx := context.Background()
+
+// Put all this together
+netw, err := swarm.NewNetwork(ctx, []ma.Multiaddr{maddr}, ident.ID(), ps, nil)
+if err != nil {
+	panic(err)
+}
+```
+
+At this point, we have everything needed to finally construct a host. That call
+is the simplest one so far:
+```go
+import bhost "github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p/p2p/host/basic"
+
+myhost := bhost.New(netw)
+```
+
+And thats it, you have a libp2p host and you're ready to start doing some
+awesome p2p networking!
+
+In future guides we will go over ways to use hosts, configure them differently
+(hint: there are a huge number of ways to set these up), and interesting ways
+to apply this technology to various applications you might want to build.
+
+To see this code all put together, take a look at the `host.go` file in this
+directory.
diff --git a/tutorial/001-the-host/host.go b/tutorial/001-the-host/host.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..05b8b12844fb575cf0cea9580e7ec59f365a771b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tutorial/001-the-host/host.go
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"fmt"
+
+	pstore "github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-peerstore"
+	swarm "github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-swarm"
+	bhost "github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p/p2p/host/basic"
+	testutil "github.com/libp2p/go-testutil"
+	ma "github.com/multiformats/go-multiaddr"
+)
+
+func main() {
+	// For toy applications, this is an easy way to get an identity
+	ident, err := testutil.RandIdentity()
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+
+	// We've created the identity, now we need to store it.
+	// A peerstore holds information about peers, including your own
+	ps := pstore.NewPeerstore()
+
+	// An identity is essentially a public/private keypair
+	ps.AddPrivKey(ident.ID(), ident.PrivateKey())
+	ps.AddPubKey(ident.ID(), ident.PublicKey())
+
+	maddr, err := ma.NewMultiaddr("/ip4/0.0.0.0/tcp/9000")
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+
+	// Make a context to govern the lifespan of the swarm
+	ctx := context.Background()
+
+	// Put all this together
+	netw, err := swarm.NewNetwork(ctx, []ma.Multiaddr{maddr}, ident.ID(), ps, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+
+	myhost := bhost.New(netw)
+	fmt.Printf("Hello World, my hosts ID is %s\n", myhost.ID())
+}