diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c5dd6e3ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+db ?= -cf
+
+.PHONY: help
+help:
+	@echo "Nothing to see here, go away"
+
+.PHONY: backend-%
+backend-%: --stack-work-$* --backend-$* --stack-krow-$*
+
+.PHONY: database
+database: --stack-work-build --database --stack-krow-build
+
+.PHONY: --database
+--database:
+	(in-develop | grep -q 'In develop') || (echo "Not in develop" 1>&2; exit 1)
+	stack build --fast --flag uniworx:-library-only --flag uniworx:dev
+	export SERVER_SESSION_ACID_FALLBACK=$${SERVER_SESSION_ACID_FALLBACK:-true}
+	stack exec uniworxdb -- $(db)
+
+node_modules: package.json
+	yarn install
+
+.PHONY: %.lock
+%.lock:
+	[ -e $@ ] || touch $@
+	flock -en $@ :
+
+.PHONY: --backend-build
+--backend-build:
+	stack build --fast --profile --library-profiling --executable-profiling --flag uniworx:-library-only --flag uniworx:dev
+
+.PHONY: --stack-work-%
+--stack-work-%: .stack-work.lock
+	[[ -e .stack-work && -e .stack-work-$* ]] && (echo ".stack-work collides with .stack-work-$*, please resolve manually" 1>&2; exit 1)
+	[[ -e .stack-work && ! -e .stack-work-$* ]] || mv .stack-work-$* .stack-work
+
+.PHONY: --stack-krow-%
+--stack-krow-%:
+	[[ -e .stack-work-$* && echo ".stack-work-$* already exists, please resolve manually" 1>&2; exit 1 ]] || mv .stack-work .stack-work-$*
+	flock -u .stack-work.lock
+
+# TODO: yarn2nix target
+
+# watch:
+# 	while true; do \
+# 
+# start: frontend-build frontend-build-watch yesod-start
+# 	run-s frontend:build --parallel "frontend:build:watch" "yesod:start"
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index 6a7d3e080..164d0a282 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@
             (final: prev: let
                 pkgs = import nixpkgs { inherit system; };
                in {
-                 inherit (pkgs) dockerTools yarn yarn2nix glibcLocalesUtf8 tzdata chromium minio minio-client skopeo; inherit (pkgs.stdenv) fetchurlBoot;
+                 inherit (pkgs) dockerTools yarn glibcLocalesUtf8 tzdata chromium minio minio-client skopeo; inherit (pkgs.stdenv) fetchurlBoot;
                  stack = pkgs.symlinkJoin {
                   inherit (pkgs.stack) name;
                   paths = [pkgs.stack];
diff --git a/shell.nix b/shell.nix
index 1147455ea..08d5d469d 100644
--- a/shell.nix
+++ b/shell.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2022-2023 Gregor Kleen <gregor@kleen.consulting>, Sarah Vaupel <sarah.vaupel@uniworx.de>, Steffen Jost <jost@tcs.ifi.lmu.de>
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2022-2024 Sarah Vaupel <sarah.vaupel@uniworx.de>, Gregor Kleen <gregor@kleen.consulting>, Steffen Jost <jost@tcs.ifi.lmu.de>
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later
 
@@ -180,6 +180,8 @@ let
     PGHOST=''${pgSockDir}
     PGLOG=''${pgLogFile}
 
+    AVSPASS=''${AVSPASS:-nopasswordset}
+
     WIDGET_MEMCACHED_HOST=localhost
     WIDGET_MEMCACHED_PORT=$(($PORT_OFFSET + 11211))
 
@@ -274,7 +276,7 @@ in pkgs.mkShell {
   nativeBuildInputs = [develop inDevelop killallUni2work diffRunning]
   ++ (with pkgs;
     [ stack nodejs_21 yarn postgresql_12 openldap exiftool expat memcached minio minio-client
-      gup reuse pre-commit
+      gnumake gup reuse pre-commit
       yarn2nix
       # busybox # for print services, but interferes with build commands in develop-shell
       htop