diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7a626e28c..0f97ba868 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -485,14 +485,26 @@ build on a macOS machine with XCode installed:
 
 ```shell-session
 $ zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseFast
-$ cd macos && xcodebuild
+$ cd macos && xcodebuild -configuration Debug
 ```
 
-This will output the app to `macos/build/Release/Ghostty.app`.
-This app will be not be signed or notarized. Note that
-[official continuous builds are available](https://github.com/mitchellh/ghostty/releases/tag/tip)
+This will output the app to `macos/build/Debug/Ghostty.app`.
+This app will be not be signed or notarized.
+[Official continuous builds are available](https://github.com/mitchellh/ghostty/releases/tag/tip)
 that are both signed and notarized.
 
+Note that this is a debug build. If you build a release build, you'll have
+to either manually disable "Library Validation" for the release target or
+you'll have to manually configure the Xcode project to use a valid macOS
+developer signing key. We currently don't support any way to do this from
+the command line so you'll have to open Xcode graphically. If you want a release
+build, I highly recommend you use
+[the official continuous builds](https://github.com/mitchellh/ghostty/releases/tag/tip).
+
+If Ghostty is crashing on launch with an error about codesigning, you've
+probably built a release build without applying the requirements in the previous
+paragraph.
+
 When running the app, logs are available via macOS unified logging such
 as `Console.app`. The easiest way I've found to view these is to just use the CLI: