diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ac84e6a..65b3cc4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -39,13 +39,15 @@ and set the following variables:
 * `poa_role` - node's role (one of `bootnode`, `validator`, `moc`, `explorer`, `netstat`)
 * `access_key` - s3 access key
 * `secret_key` - s3 secret key
-* `s3_bucket` - s3 bucket name 
+* `s3_bucket` - s3 bucket name
+
+you can ignore other variables in this file
 
 9. create `hosts` file:
 ```
-cp hosts.example hosts
+touch hosts
 ```
-and set it to run on localhost:
+and set it to run `backup` on localhost:
 ```
 [backup]
 localhost
@@ -74,3 +76,60 @@ and set permission to run it:
 ```
 chmod 755 /etc/cron.hourly/poa-devops-logrotate
 ```
+
+### 2. Make a spec.json hard-fork
+0. this guide assumes that you're running this playbook from the same machine you used to make initial deployment of your node. So that you already have `python` and `ansible` installed, and you have the correct ssh keypair to root-access the node.
+
+1. clone this repository:
+```
+git clone https://github.com/poanetwork/poa-devops.git
+cd poa-devops
+```
+
+2. create `group_vars/all` file:
+```
+cp group_vars/all.example group_vars/all
+```
+and set the following variables:
+* `poa_role` - node's role (one of `bootnode`, `validator`, `moc`, `explorer`, `netstat`)
+* `MAIN_REPO_FETCH` - github account where spec.json is located (e.g. "poanetwork")
+* `GENESIS_BRANCH` - correct branch name to fetch from (e.g. "sokol" for testnet, "core" for mainnet)
+
+ignore other variables in this file
+
+3. create `hosts` file:
+```
+touch hosts
+```
+and put your node's ip address (assuming it's 192.0.2.1) there with the following header:
+```
+[hf-spec-change]
+192.0.2.1
+```
+
+4. run the playbook:
+```
+ansible-playbook -i hosts site.yml
+```
+
+5. verify that your node is active in the netstat of the corresponding network
+
+6. connect to the node
+```
+ssh root@192.0.2.1
+```
+switch to the home folder of corresponding role:
+```
+# substitute validator with your node's role (bootnode, moc, ...)
+cd /home/validator
+```
+and check the update time of `spec.json` (should be about the time you started the playbook)
+```
+ls -lh
+# a long list should appear here, look for spec.json in the rightmost column and check the date and time on the same row
+```
+also check that backup was created:
+```
+ls -lh spec-hfs/
+# look for a file named similar to spec-hf-20180108-174649.json Numbers represent date and time in UTC when the playbook was started
+```