diff --git a/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml b/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml
index 821dc1d..4416259 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml
@@ -11,12 +11,20 @@ on:
 
 jobs:
   unit_tests_linux:
-    name: "Python ${{ matrix.python-version }}"
+    name: ${{ matrix.name }} Python ${{ matrix.python }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
     strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        # test minimum and maximum supported python version
-        python-version: ["3.10", "3.13"]
+        include:
+          - os: ubuntu-latest
+            python-version: "3.10"
+          - os: ubuntu-latest
+            python-version: "3.13"
+          - os: ubuntu-latest
+            python-version: "3.13"
+            pip-flags: "--pre"
+            name: PRE-RELEASE DEPENDENCIES
 
     env:
       # GitHub currently has 4 cores available for Linux runners
@@ -39,14 +47,7 @@ jobs:
         run: sudo apt-get install -y libgit2-dev pandoc
 
       - name: "Install DSO"
-        run: pip install '.[test]'
+        run: pip install  ${{ matrix.pip-flags }} '.[test]'
 
       - name: "Run unit tests"
         run: pytest -vv tests -n ${{ env.worker_cores }} --cov=dso --cov-report=xml
-
-      # - name: "Upload coverage to Codecov"
-      #   uses: codecov/codecov-action@v4
-      #   with:
-      #     files: ./coverage.xml
-      #   env:
-      #     CODECOV_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CODECOV_TOKEN }}
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 406b6f9..c156edc 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -19,12 +19,16 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning][].
 
 -   Python API that mirrors `dso-r` functionality (e.g. to be used from Jupyter notebooks) ([#30](/~https://github.com/Boehringer-Ingelheim/dso/pull/30))
 
+## Documentation
+
+-   Various documentation updates, working towards the first public version of the docs.
+
 ### Chore
 
 -   Refactor CLI into separate module ([#30](/~https://github.com/Boehringer-Ingelheim/dso/pull/30))
 -   Defer imports in CLI until they are actually needed to speed up CLI ([#30](/~https://github.com/Boehringer-Ingelheim/dso/pull/30))
 -   Make all modules explicitly private that are not part of the public API ([#30](/~https://github.com/Boehringer-Ingelheim/dso/pull/30))
--   Relicense the package as LGPL-3.0-or-later, with an exception for the templates ([#76](/~https://github.com/Boehringer-Ingelheim/dso/pull/76))
+-   Relicense the package as LGPL-3.0-or-later, with a more permissive exception for the templates ([#76](/~https://github.com/Boehringer-Ingelheim/dso/pull/76))
 
 ## v0.10.1
 
diff --git a/docs/command_reference.md b/docs/cli_command_reference.md
similarity index 100%
rename from docs/command_reference.md
rename to docs/cli_command_reference.md
diff --git a/docs/cli_configuration.md b/docs/cli_configuration.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f022077
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/cli_configuration.md
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# Configuration
+
+This section provides and overview of dso settings and how to apply them.
+
+## pyproject.toml
+
+Project-specific dso settings can be set in the `pyproject.toml` file at the root of each project in the
+`[tool.dso]` section:
+
+```toml
+[tool.dso]
+# whether to compile relative paths declared with `!path` into absolute paths or relative paths (relative to each stage).
+# default is `true`
+use_relative_path = true
+```
diff --git a/docs/cli_installation.md b/docs/cli_installation.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7cd4222
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/cli_installation.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# Installation
+
+TODO
diff --git a/docs/contributing.md b/docs/contributing.md
index e2fceb6..2309c25 100644
--- a/docs/contributing.md
+++ b/docs/contributing.md
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 # Contributing guide
 
 We assume that you are already familiar with git and with making pull requests on GitHub.
-If not, please refer to the [scanpy developer guide][].
 
 ## Installing dev dependencies
 
@@ -114,7 +113,6 @@ Please adhere to [Semantic Versioning][semver], in brief
 >
 > Additional labels for pre-release and build metadata are available as extensions to the MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH format.
 
-
 [semver]: https://semver.org/
 [managing GitHub releases]: https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/releasing-projects-on-github/managing-releases-in-a-repository
 [pypi]: https://pypi.org/
diff --git a/docs/dso_python.md b/docs/dso_python.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 10cafdc..0000000
--- a/docs/dso_python.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-# Python API
-
-TODO
-
-```{eval-rst}
-.. module:: dso
-.. currentmodule:: dso
-
-.. autosummary::
-    :toctree: generated
-```
diff --git a/docs/index.md b/docs/index.md
index 29ae1fc..2100e37 100644
--- a/docs/index.md
+++ b/docs/index.md
@@ -15,7 +15,9 @@ getting_started.md
 :maxdepth: 1
 :caption: DSO CLI
 
-command_reference.md
+cli_installation.md
+cli_command_reference.md
+cli_configuration.md
 CHANGELOG.md
 contributing.md
 ```
@@ -25,7 +27,8 @@ contributing.md
 :maxdepth: 1
 :caption: DSO Python API
 
-dso_python.md
+python_usage.md
+python_api.md
 ```
 
 ```{toctree}
diff --git a/docs/python_api.md b/docs/python_api.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e9a92c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/python_api.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# API reference
+
+```{eval-rst}
+.. automodule:: dso
+   :members:
+```
diff --git a/docs/python_usage.md b/docs/python_usage.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1bcb4f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/python_usage.md
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+# Usage
+
+## Installation
+
+The DSO Python API is part of the DSO CLI package. See [installation](cli_installation.md) for more details.
+
+## Typical usage
+
+The purpose of the Python API is to provide covenient access to stage parameters from Python scripts or notebooks.
+Using {func}`~dso.read_params` the `params.yaml` file of the specified stage is compiled and loaded
+into a dictionary. The path must be specified relative to the project root -- this ensures that the correct stage is
+found irrespective of the current working directory, as long as it the project root or any subdirectory thereof.
+Only parameters that are declared as `params`, `dep`, or `output` in dvc.yaml are loaded to
+ensure that one does not forget to keep the `dvc.yaml` updated.
+
+```python
+from dso import read_params
+
+params = read_params("subfolder/my_stage")
+```
+
+By default, DSO compiles paths in configuration files to paths relative to each stage (see [configuration](cli_configuration.md#pyprojecttoml)).
+From Python, you can use {func}`~dso.stage_here` to resolve paths
+relative to the current stage independent of your current working directory, e.g.
+
+```python
+import pandas as pd
+from dso import stage_here
+
+pd.read_csv(stage_here(params["samplesheet"]))
+```
+
+This works, because `read_params` has stored the path of the current stage in a configuration object that persists in
+the current Python session. `stage_here` can use this information to resolve relative paths.
diff --git a/src/dso/__init__.py b/src/dso/__init__.py
index 5160e86..02461e4 100644
--- a/src/dso/__init__.py
+++ b/src/dso/__init__.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 from ._metadata import __version__  # noqa
-from .api import here, read_params, set_stage, stage_here
+from .api import here, read_params, set_stage, stage_here, CONFIG
 
-__all__ = ["read_params", "here", "stage_here", "set_stage"]
+__all__ = ["read_params", "here", "stage_here", "set_stage", "CONFIG"]
diff --git a/src/dso/api.py b/src/dso/api.py
index 9924f86..108fd09 100644
--- a/src/dso/api.py
+++ b/src/dso/api.py
@@ -45,13 +45,13 @@ def stage_here(rel_path: str | Path | None = None) -> Path:
     """
     Get the absolute path to the current stage
 
-    The current stage is stored in `dso.CONFIG` and can be set using `dso.set_stage` or
-    `dso.read_params`.
+    The current stage is stored in `dso.CONFIG` and can be set using :func:`dso.set_stage` or
+    :func:`dso.read_params`.
 
     Parameters
     ----------
     rel_path
-        Relative path to be appended to the project root
+        Relative path to be appended to the stage root
     """
     if CONFIG.stage_here is None:
         raise RuntimeError("No stage has been set. Run `read_params` or `set_stage` first!")
@@ -89,6 +89,23 @@ def set_stage(stage: str | Path) -> None:
 
 
 def read_params(stage: str | Path) -> dict:
-    """Set stage dir and load parameters from params.yaml"""
+    """
+    Set stage dir and load parameters from the stage's params.yaml
+
+    It is required to provide the path of the current stage relative to the project root to ensure that
+    the correct config is loaded, no matter of the current working directory (as long as the working directory
+    is any subdirectory of the project root). The function recompiles params.in.yaml to params.yaml on-the-fly
+    to ensure that up-to-date params are always loaded.
+
+    Only parameters that are declared as `params`, `dep`, or `output` in dvc.yaml are loaded to
+    ensure that one does not forget to keep the `dvc.yaml` updated.
+
+    Calls :func:`~dso.set_stage` internally.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    stage
+        Path to stage, relative to the project root
+    """
     set_stage(stage)
     return get_config(str(stage), skip_compile=bool(int(os.environ.get("DSO_SKIP_COMPILE", 0))))