diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a41b8c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+# Server
+PORT=3000
+HOST=0.0.0.0
+NODE_ENV=development
+
+# Database
+DATABASE_URL=postgresql://samreshu:samreshu_dev@localhost:5432/samreshu
+
+# Redis
+REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379
+
+# Auth
+JWT_SECRET=dev-secret-change-in-production-min-32-chars
+JWT_ACCESS_TTL=15m
+JWT_REFRESH_TTL=7d
+
+# LLM
+LLM_BASE_URL=http://localhost:11434/v1
+LLM_MODEL=qwen2.5:14b
+LLM_API_KEY=
+LLM_TIMEOUT_MS=15000
+LLM_MAX_RETRIES=1
+LLM_TEMPERATURE=0.7
+LLM_MAX_TOKENS=2048
+
+# Rate limits
+RATE_LIMIT_LOGIN=5
+RATE_LIMIT_REGISTER=3
+RATE_LIMIT_FORGOT_PASSWORD=3
+RATE_LIMIT_VERIFY_EMAIL=5
+RATE_LIMIT_API_AUTHED=100
+RATE_LIMIT_API_GUEST=30
+
+# CORS (comma-separated origins)
+CORS_ORIGINS=http://localhost:5173,http://localhost:3000
+
+# Email (dev — mailpit / mailtrap)
+SMTP_HOST=localhost
+SMTP_PORT=1025
+SMTP_USER=
+SMTP_PASS=
+EMAIL_FROM=noreply@samreshu.dev
+
+# Sentry (optional for dev)
+SENTRY_DSN=
diff --git a/docker-compose.dev.yml b/docker-compose.dev.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dcbf5f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose.dev.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+services:
+  postgres:
+    image: postgres:16-alpine
+    environment:
+      POSTGRES_USER: samreshu
+      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: samreshu_dev
+      POSTGRES_DB: samreshu
+    ports:
+      - "5432:5432"
+    volumes:
+      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U samreshu -d samreshu"]
+      interval: 5s
+      timeout: 5s
+      retries: 5
+
+  redis:
+    image: redis:7-alpine
+    ports:
+      - "6379:6379"
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ["CMD", "redis-cli", "ping"]
+      interval: 5s
+      timeout: 5s
+      retries: 5
+
+volumes:
+  pgdata:
diff --git a/src/server.ts b/src/server.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..510756f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/server.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+import 'dotenv/config';
+import { buildApp } from './app.js';
+import { env } from './config/env.js';
+
+async function main() {
+  const app = await buildApp();
+
+  try {
+    await app.listen({ port: env.PORT, host: env.HOST });
+    app.log.info({ port: env.PORT }, 'Server started');
+  } catch (err) {
+    app.log.error(err);
+    process.exit(1);
+  }
+
+  const shutdown = async () => {
+    app.log.info('Shutting down...');
+    await app.close();
+    process.exit(0);
+  };
+
+  process.on('SIGINT', shutdown);
+  process.on('SIGTERM', shutdown);
+}
+
+main();