diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index eb5f2cf2..fb740612 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
 project(indentlog VERSION 0.1)
 enable_language(CXX)
 
+# common XO cmake macros (see proj/xo-cmake)
+include(xo_macros/xo_cxx)
 include(cmake/nestlog.cmake)
 include(cmake/code-coverage.cmake)
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index bd376bd9..d0202a94 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -18,6 +18,11 @@ Indentlog is a lightweight header-only library for console logging.
 
 ## Getting Started
 
+### build + install `xo-cmake` dependency (cmake macros)
+
+see [github/Rconybea/xo-cmake](https://github.com/Rconybea/xo-cmake)
+(almost trivial,  installs a few `.cmake` files)
+
 ### copy repository locally
 
 ```
@@ -32,7 +37,7 @@ indentlog
 $ cd indentlog
 $ mkdir build
 $ cd build
-$ cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local ..
+$ cmake -DCMAKE_MODULE_PATH=/usr/local/share/cmake  -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local ..
 $ make
 $ make install
 ```