diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c8769d9a57699de1f343029effde6f7727ec7847..eb130d1007fbf0cfcf7103b115db062148a9110d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ cp .env.sample .env
 
 # create volumes directories
 mkdir -p data/hemmelig database
+touch database/hammelig.db
 
 # set permissions (Node user has UID 1000 within the container)
 chown 1000:1000 data/hemmelig database