diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f63c834..f19a66c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,11 +1,18 @@
 # cagliostr
 
-Experimental Nostr Relay written in C++
+High performance Nostr Relay written in C++
 
 ## Usage
 
 ```
-$ ./cagliostr
+$ ./cagliostr --help
+Usage: cagliostr [--help] [--version] [-database DATABASE] [-loglevel LEVEL]
+
+Optional arguments:
+  -h, --help          shows help message and exits 
+  -v, --version       prints version information and exits 
+  -database DATABASE  connection string [default: "./cagliostr.sqlite"]
+  -loglevel LEVEL     log level [default: "info"]
 ```
 
 ## Requirements
diff --git a/main.cxx b/main.cxx
index 8b175cf..a58c033 100644
--- a/main.cxx
+++ b/main.cxx
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ static bool matched_filters(const std::vector<filter_t> &filters,
   return found;
 }
 
-static bool check_event(const event_t ev) {
+static bool check_event(const event_t& ev) {
   nlohmann::json check = {0,       ev.pubkey, ev.created_at,
                                 ev.kind, ev.tags,   ev.content};
   auto dump = check.dump();
@@ -477,10 +477,6 @@ static void signal_handler(uv_signal_t *req, int /*signum*/) {
   sqlite3_close_v2(conn);
 }
 
-using commandtype = std::function<void(
-    const std::string &, std::vector<std::string>::const_iterator,
-    std::vector<std::string>::const_iterator)>;
-
 static std::string env(const char *name, const char *defvalue) {
   const char *value = getenv(name);
   if (value == nullptr) {