diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..55b822b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# Connection string for local development and tests.
+# The role must be allowed to CREATE DATABASE (sqlx::test provisions temp DBs).
+DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/cms_dev
+BIND_ADDR=0.0.0.0:8080
+APP_NAME=Collection Management System
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index ea8c4bf..fedaa2b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 /target
+.env
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6fd7983
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+services:
+  postgres:
+    image: postgres:17
+    environment:
+      POSTGRES_USER: postgres
+      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres
+      POSTGRES_DB: cms_dev
+    ports:
+      - "5432:5432"
+    volumes:
+      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
+
+volumes:
+  pgdata:
diff --git a/justfile b/justfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c204c38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/justfile
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+set dotenv-load
+
+# Run the server (reads .env)
+run:
+    cargo run -p server
+
+# Run the full test suite
+test:
+    cargo test --workspace
+
+# Format with the nightly toolchain
+fmt:
+    cargo +nightly fmt
+
+# Lint, treating warnings as errors
+lint:
+    cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings
+
+# Format, lint, and test
+check: fmt lint test