diff --git a/npm/README.md b/npm/README.md
index cd8b8eca38c9..04e7c53c90fa 100644
--- a/npm/README.md
+++ b/npm/README.md
@@ -37,3 +37,19 @@ Then you can run your app using:
 ```
 atom-shell your-app/
 ```
+
+## Programmatic usage
+
+If you require `atom-shell` inside your node app it will return the file path to the binary.
+Use this to spawn atom shell
+
+``` js
+var atom = require('atom-shell')
+var proc = require('child_process')
+
+// will something similar to print /Users/maf/.../Atom
+console.log(atom)
+
+// spawn atom-shell
+var child = proc.spawn(atom)
+```
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