diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..47895f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,142 @@
+# Mongo Assert
+
+Stronger, more intuitive type checking and assertions for MongoDB.
+
+Mongo Assert extends the functionality of Zod, integrated with the MongoDB Node.js driver, to provide a more intuitive and powerful way to validate and assert MongoDB documents.
+
+Some of its features include:
+
+- Validation of unique fields
+- Validation of the integrity of references to other collections
+- Adherence to a Zod schema
+
+## But why?
+
+Mongo Assert is something I put together out of frustration with existing, heavy handed solutions for MongoDB schema management. Mongo Assert is intended to have a minimal footprint, add on to  existing validation infrastructure, and plug in seamlessly to build-time integrity checks.
+
+## Usage
+
+Mongo Assert is available as an NPM package. To install it, run:
+
+```bash
+npm install mongo-assert
+pnpm install mongo-assert
+yarn add mongo-assert
+bun install mongo-assert
+```
+
+Mongo Assert supports Zod schemas out of the box, so any schemas you may already have defined can be used
+with any MongoDB instance.
+
+## Examples
+
+### Getting started
+
+For all of the examples below, we'll be using the following schema:
+
+```ts
+import { z } from 'zod';
+import { ObjectId } from "mongo-assert/lib/mongodb"
+
+export const userSchema = z.object({
+    _id: ObjectId,
+    name: z.string(),
+    email: z.string().email(),
+});
+
+export type User = z.infer<typeof userSchema>;
+```
+
+### Unique field validation
+
+Mongo Assert extends Zod schemas to check that your documents match the desired schema. For example:
+
+```ts
+import MongoAssert, { type AssertUniqueType } from 'mongo-assert';
+import { userSchema, type User } from "./schemas";
+
+export const UserEmailsUniqueValidator: AssertUniqueType<User> = MongoAssert.unique.fromSchema(userSchema, ["email"]);
+```
+
+The returned object is a Zod schema that can be directly invoked to validate a result from MongoDB. This object
+is of the type:
+
+```ts
+type AssertUniqueType<T> = z.ZodEffects<z.ZodArray<z.ZodType<T>>, T[], unknown>;
+```
+
+And you can use it like this:
+
+```ts
+import { createMongoClient } from "./your-mongo-client";
+import { UserEmailsUniqueValidator } from "./schemas";
+
+const client = await createMongoClient(url, options);
+
+async function main() {
+    const users: WithId<Document>[] = await client.db("db").collection("users").find().toArray();
+
+    try {
+        return UserEmailsUniqueValidator.parse(users) satisfies User[];
+    } catch (e) {
+        console.error(e);
+        return;
+    }
+}
+```
+
+### Reference validation
+
+Mongo Assert also supports validation of references to other collections.
+
+For example, suppose we have a collection of `Store`s that must be associated to an existing `User`. Let's define our schema first:
+
+```ts
+import { z } from 'zod';
+
+export const storeSchema = z.object({
+    _id: ObjectId,
+    name: z.string(),
+    owner: z.string(),
+    ownerEmail: z.string().email(),
+});
+
+export type Store = z.infer<typeof storeSchema>;
+```
+
+Now, we can define a reference validator between these two collections:
+
+```ts
+import MongoAssert from 'mongo-assert';
+
+const StoresHaveOwnersValidator = new MongoAssert.relation({
+    db: "your-db",
+    mainCollection: "users",
+    relationCollection: "stores",
+    mainSchema: userSchema,
+    relationSchema: storeSchema,
+    relations: {
+        "email": "ownerEmail"
+    }
+});
+```
+
+And then we can use it like this:
+
+```ts
+import { createMongoClient } from "./your-mongo-client";
+import { StoresHaveOwnersValidator } from "./schemas";
+
+const client = await createMongoClient(url, options);
+
+async function main() {
+    const stores: WithId<Document>[] = await client.db("db").collection("stores").find().toArray();
+
+    try {
+        return StoresHaveOwnersValidator.parse(stores) satisfies Store[];
+    } catch (e) {
+        console.error(e);
+        return;
+    }
+}
+```
diff --git a/actions/relation.ts b/actions/relation.ts
index 019aa39..aa43cd1 100644
--- a/actions/relation.ts
+++ b/actions/relation.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
 import { z } from "zod";
-import createMongoClient from "../lib/mongoClient";
+import { createMongoClient } from "../lib/mongodb";
+import { MongoClient, MongoClientOptions } from "mongodb";
+import { WeakDict } from "../lib/types";
 
+export type AssertRelationType<T extends WeakDict, R extends WeakDict> = {};
 export type AssertRelationConfig<T extends Record<string, unknown>, R extends Record<string, unknown>> = {
     db: string;
+    client?: MongoClient
     mainCollection: string;
     mainSchema: z.ZodSchema<T>;
     relationCollection: string;
@@ -10,7 +14,15 @@ export type AssertRelationConfig<T extends Record<string, unknown>, R extends Re
     relations: {
         [key in keyof T]?: keyof R;
     }
-}
+} & ({
+    connectionDetails?: undefined
+    client?: MongoClient
+} | {
+    connectionDetails: {
+        url: string;
+        options: MongoClientOptions;
+    }
+})
 
 export class AssertRelation<T extends Record<string, unknown>, R extends Record<string, unknown>> {
     config: AssertRelationConfig<T, R>;
@@ -26,8 +38,12 @@ export class AssertRelation<T extends Record<string, unknown>, R extends Record<
 
     async check() {
         try {
-            const client = await createMongoClient();
-            if (!client) return null;
+            let client: MongoClient | undefined = this.config.client;
+
+            if (!client && this.config.connectionDetails?.url)
+                client = await createMongoClient(this.config.connectionDetails.url, this.config.connectionDetails?.options);
+
+            if (!client) return;
 
             const db = client.db(this.config.db);
             const collection = db.collection(this.config.mainCollection);
@@ -61,7 +77,7 @@ export class AssertRelation<T extends Record<string, unknown>, R extends Record<
             return i;
         } catch(e) {
             console.log(e);
-            return null;
+            return;
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/actions/unique.ts b/actions/unique.ts
index c4a3c5f..f2204d6 100644
--- a/actions/unique.ts
+++ b/actions/unique.ts
@@ -1,19 +1,30 @@
 import type { z } from 'zod';
 
-export type CollectionParameters<T> = Partial<Record<keyof T, { unique?: boolean }>>
+export type AssertUniqueType<T extends Record<string, unknown>> = z.ZodEffects<z.ZodArray<z.ZodType<T>>, T[], unknown>;
 
-export const AssertUnique = <T>(itemSchema: z.ZodSchema<T>, parameters?: CollectionParameters<T>) =>
-    itemSchema.array().refine((val) => {
-        for (const key in parameters) {
-            const value = parameters[key as keyof CollectionParameters<T>];
-            const unique = value?.unique ?? false;
+export class AssertUnique<T extends Record<string, unknown>> {
+    itemSchema: z.ZodSchema<T>;
+    uniqueValues?: (keyof T)[];
 
-            if (unique) {
+    constructor(itemSchema: z.ZodSchema<T>, uniqueValues?: (keyof T)[]) {
+        this.itemSchema = itemSchema;
+        this.uniqueValues = uniqueValues;
+    }
+
+    fromSchema() {
+        return AssertUnique.fromSchema(this.itemSchema, this.uniqueValues) satisfies AssertUniqueType<T>;
+    }
+
+    static fromSchema<T extends Record<string, unknown>>(
+        itemSchema: z.ZodSchema<T>, uniqueValues?: (keyof T)[]
+    ) {
+        return itemSchema.array().refine((val) => {
+            for (const key of uniqueValues ?? []) {
                 const values = val.map((item) => item[key as keyof T]);
                 return values.length === new Set(values).size;
             }
-        }
-    }, {
-        message: "Encountered duplicate values in unique field"
+        }, {
+            message: "Encountered duplicate values in unique field"
+        }) satisfies AssertUniqueType<T>;
     }
-);
+}
diff --git a/examples/main.ts b/examples/main.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6037b85
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/main.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+import { z } from 'zod';
+import MongoAssert from '..';
+import dotenv from 'dotenv';
+import path from 'path';
+import { createMongoClient, ObjectId } from '../lib/mongodb';
+
+dotenv.config();
+
+const MusicEntry = z.object({
+    _id: ObjectId,
+    name: z.string(),
+    shortdescription: z.string(),
+    longdescription: z.string().optional(),
+    artist: z.string().optional(),
+    compositiondate: z.string().optional(),
+    pathtoentry: z.string(),
+    collection: z.string(),
+    slug: z.string(),
+})
+
+const MusicCollection = z.object({
+    _id: ObjectId,
+    name: z.string(),
+    description: z.string().optional(),
+    collectionslug: z.string(),
+})
+
+type MusicEntryType = z.infer<typeof MusicEntry>;
+type MusicCollectionType = z.infer<typeof MusicCollection>;
+
+async function main() {
+    try {
+        const url = process.env.MONGO_URL;
+        const cert = process.env.MONGO_CERT;
+
+        if (!url || !cert) {
+            throw new Error('Missing environment variables');
+        }
+
+        const client = await createMongoClient(url, {
+            tlsCertificateKeyFile: path.resolve(__dirname, '..', cert)
+        });
+
+        if (!client) return null;
+
+        const mdotdev = client.db('mikayladotdev');
+        const music = mdotdev.collection('music');
+
+        const musicData = await music.find().toArray();
+        const collectionData = await mdotdev.collection('music-collection').find().toArray();
+
+        type AssertUniqueType<T extends Record<string, unknown>> = z.ZodEffects<z.ZodArray<z.ZodType<T>>, T[], unknown>;
+
+        // validate against internal schema
+        const MusicEntryValidator = MongoAssert.unique.fromSchema(MusicEntry, ["slug"]) satisfies AssertUniqueType<MusicEntryType>;
+        const MusicCollections = MongoAssert.unique.fromSchema(MusicCollection, ["collectionslug"]);
+
+        const result: Promise<number | undefined> = MongoAssert.relation.check({
+            db: "mikayladotdev",
+            mainCollection: "music",
+            relationCollection: "music-collection",
+            mainSchema: MusicEntry,
+            relationSchema: MusicCollection,
+            relations: {
+                "collection": "collectionslug"
+            }
+        });
+
+        await Promise.allSettled([
+            MusicEntryValidator.parseAsync(musicData) satisfies Promise<MusicEntryType[]>,
+            MusicCollections.parseAsync(collectionData) satisfies Promise<MusicCollectionType[]>,
+            result
+        ]).then((results) => {
+            results.forEach((result) => {
+                if (result.status === 'rejected') {
+                    console.log(result.reason);
+                }
+            })
+        })
+        .catch(console.error)
+        .finally(() => client.close());
+
+    } catch(e) {
+        console.log(e);
+    }
+}
+
+main().catch(console.error);
diff --git a/index.ts b/index.ts
index 9307665..95ee22a 100644
--- a/index.ts
+++ b/index.ts
@@ -1,58 +1,12 @@
-import dotenv from 'dotenv';
-import { MusicCollection, MusicEntry } from './lib/schema';
 import { AssertUnique } from './actions/unique';
 import { AssertRelation } from './actions/relation';
-import { createMongoClient } from './lib/mongoClient';
+import { AssertConstrained } from './actions/constrained';
 
-dotenv.config();
+export type { AssertUniqueType } from "./actions/unique";
+export type { AssertRelationType } from "./actions/relation";
 
-async function main() {
-    try {
-        const client = await createMongoClient();
-        if (!client) return null;
-
-        const mdotdev = client.db('mikayladotdev');
-        const music = mdotdev.collection('music');
-
-        const musicData = await music.find().toArray();
-        const collectionData = await mdotdev.collection('music-collection').find().toArray();
-
-        // validate against internal schema
-        const MusicEntries = AssertUnique(MusicEntry, {
-            slug: { unique: true }
-        });
-
-        const MusicCollections = AssertUnique(MusicCollection, {
-            collectionslug: { unique: true }
-        });
-
-        const result = AssertRelation.check({
-            db: "mikayladotdev",
-            mainCollection: "music",
-            relationCollection: "music-collection",
-            mainSchema: MusicEntry,
-            relationSchema: MusicCollection,
-            relations: {
-                "collection": "collectionslug"
-            }
-        });
-
-        await Promise.allSettled([
-            MusicEntries.parseAsync(musicData),
-            MusicCollections.parseAsync(collectionData),
-            result
-        ]).then((results) => {
-            results.forEach((result) => {
-                if (result.status === 'rejected') {
-                    console.log(result.reason);
-                }
-            })
-        }).catch(console.error)
-        .finally(() => client.close());
-
-    } catch(e) {
-        console.log(e);
-    }
+export default class MongoAssert {
+    static unique = AssertUnique;
+    static relation = AssertRelation;
+    static constrained = AssertConstrained;
 }
-
-main().catch(console.error);
diff --git a/lib/mongoClient.ts b/lib/mongoClient.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 8bee0c8..0000000
--- a/lib/mongoClient.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
-import { MongoClient } from "mongodb";
-import path from "path";
-
-export async function createMongoClient() {
-    const url = process.env.MONGO_URL;
-    const cert = process.env.MONGO_CERT;
-
-    if (!url || !cert) {
-        throw new Error('Missing environment variables');
-    }
-
-    const pathToCert = path.resolve(__dirname, '..', cert);
-
-    try {
-        const client = new MongoClient(url, {
-            tlsCertificateKeyFile: pathToCert
-        });
-
-        return client;
-    } catch(e) {
-        console.log(e);
-        return null;
-    }
-}
diff --git a/lib/mongodb.ts b/lib/mongodb.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0e8abc4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/mongodb.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+import { MongoClient, MongoClientOptions } from "mongodb";
+import { z } from "zod";
+
+// mongodb ObjectId as zod schema (we'll settle on our definition later)
+export const ObjectId = z.any();
+
+export async function createMongoClient(url: string, options?: MongoClientOptions) {
+    try {
+        return new MongoClient(url, options);
+    } catch(e) {
+        console.log(e);
+        return;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/lib/schema.ts b/lib/schema.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index f7a8419..0000000
--- a/lib/schema.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
-import { z } from 'zod';
-
-// mongodb ObjectId as zod schema (we'll settle on our definition later)
-export const ObjectId = z.any();
-
-export const MusicEntry = z.object({
-    _id: ObjectId,
-    name: z.string(),
-    shortdescription: z.string(),
-    longdescription: z.string().optional(),
-    artist: z.string().optional().default("Mikayla Dobson"),
-    compositiondate: z.string().optional(),
-    pathtoentry: z.string(),
-    collection: z.string(),
-    slug: z.string(),
-})
-
-export const MusicCollection = z.object({
-    _id: ObjectId,
-    name: z.string(),
-    description: z.string().optional(),
-    collectionslug: z.string(),
-})
-
-
-export type MusicEntry = z.infer<typeof MusicEntry>;
-export type MusicCollection = z.infer<typeof MusicCollection>;
diff --git a/lib/types.ts b/lib/types.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b4c80d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/types.ts
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+export type WeakDict = Record<string, unknown>;
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 61375ce..d069c3c 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   "name": "mongo-assert",
   "version": "1.0.0",
   "description": "",
-  "main": "index.js",
+  "main": "index.ts",
   "scripts": {
     "start": "ts-node index.ts",
     "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
@@ -10,11 +10,13 @@
   "keywords": [],
   "author": "",
   "license": "ISC",
-  "dependencies": {
-    "dotenv": "^16.4.1",
+  "peerDependencies": {
     "mongodb": "^6.3.0",
-    "ts-node": "^10.9.2",
-    "typescript": "^5.3.3",
     "zod": "^3.22.4"
+  },
+  "devDependencies": {
+    "dotenv": "^16.4.1",
+    "ts-node": "^10.9.2",
+    "typescript": "^5.3.3"
   }
 }