diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 2be0a25..def562a 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -62,6 +62,17 @@ version = "1.0.86"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "b3d1d046238990b9cf5bcde22a3fb3584ee5cf65fb2765f454ed428c7a0063da"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "async-trait"
+version = "0.1.82"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "a27b8a3a6e1a44fa4c8baf1f653e4172e81486d4941f2237e20dc2d0cf4ddff1"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn 2.0.72",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "atk"
 version = "0.18.0"
@@ -91,6 +102,69 @@ version = "1.3.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "0c4b4d0bd25bd0b74681c0ad21497610ce1b7c91b1022cd21c80c6fbdd9476b0"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "axum"
+version = "0.7.6"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "8f43644eed690f5374f1af436ecd6aea01cd201f6fbdf0178adaf6907afb2cec"
+dependencies = [
+ "async-trait",
+ "axum-core",
+ "bytes",
+ "futures-util",
+ "http",
+ "http-body",
+ "http-body-util",
+ "hyper",
+ "hyper-util",
+ "itoa 1.0.11",
+ "matchit",
+ "memchr",
+ "mime",
+ "percent-encoding",
+ "pin-project-lite",
+ "rustversion",
+ "serde",
+ "serde_json",
+ "serde_path_to_error",
+ "serde_urlencoded",
+ "sync_wrapper 1.0.1",
+ "tokio",
+ "tower 0.5.1",
+ "tower-layer",
+ "tower-service",
+ "tracing",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "axum-core"
+version = "0.4.4"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "5e6b8ba012a258d63c9adfa28b9ddcf66149da6f986c5b5452e629d5ee64bf00"
+dependencies = [
+ "async-trait",
+ "bytes",
+ "futures-util",
+ "http",
+ "http-body",
+ "http-body-util",
+ "mime",
+ "pin-project-lite",
+ "rustversion",
+ "sync_wrapper 1.0.1",
+ "tower-layer",
+ "tower-service",
+ "tracing",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "backend"
+version = "0.1.0"
+dependencies = [
+ "axum",
+ "tokio",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "backtrace"
 version = "0.3.73"
@@ -1344,6 +1418,12 @@ version = "1.9.4"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "0fcc0b4a115bf80b728eb8ea024ad5bd707b615bfed49e0665b6e0f86fd082d9"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "httpdate"
+version = "1.0.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "df3b46402a9d5adb4c86a0cf463f42e19994e3ee891101b1841f30a545cb49a9"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "hyper"
 version = "1.4.1"
@@ -1356,6 +1436,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "http",
  "http-body",
  "httparse",
+ "httpdate",
  "itoa 1.0.11",
  "pin-project-lite",
  "smallvec",
@@ -1378,7 +1459,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "pin-project-lite",
  "socket2",
  "tokio",
- "tower",
+ "tower 0.4.13",
  "tower-service",
  "tracing",
 ]
@@ -1741,6 +1822,12 @@ version = "0.1.10"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "2532096657941c2fea9c289d370a250971c689d4f143798ff67113ec042024a5"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "matchit"
+version = "0.7.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "0e7465ac9959cc2b1404e8e2367b43684a6d13790fe23056cc8c6c5a6b7bcb94"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "memchr"
 version = "2.7.4"
@@ -2604,7 +2691,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
  "serde_urlencoded",
- "sync_wrapper",
+ "sync_wrapper 1.0.1",
  "tokio",
  "tokio-util",
  "tower-service",
@@ -2772,6 +2859,16 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "serde_path_to_error"
+version = "0.1.16"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "af99884400da37c88f5e9146b7f1fd0fbcae8f6eec4e9da38b67d05486f814a6"
+dependencies = [
+ "itoa 1.0.11",
+ "serde",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "serde_repr"
 version = "0.1.19"
@@ -3073,6 +3170,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "unicode-ident",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "sync_wrapper"
+version = "0.1.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "2047c6ded9c721764247e62cd3b03c09ffc529b2ba5b10ec482ae507a4a70160"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "sync_wrapper"
 version = "1.0.1"
@@ -3485,9 +3588,9 @@ checksum = "1f3ccbac311fea05f86f61904b462b55fb3df8837a366dfc601a0161d0532f20"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "tokio"
-version = "1.39.1"
+version = "1.40.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "d040ac2b29ab03b09d4129c2f5bbd012a3ac2f79d38ff506a4bf8dd34b0eac8a"
+checksum = "e2b070231665d27ad9ec9b8df639893f46727666c6767db40317fbe920a5d998"
 dependencies = [
  "backtrace",
  "bytes",
@@ -3495,9 +3598,21 @@ dependencies = [
  "mio",
  "pin-project-lite",
  "socket2",
+ "tokio-macros",
  "windows-sys 0.52.0",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "tokio-macros"
+version = "2.4.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "693d596312e88961bc67d7f1f97af8a70227d9f90c31bba5806eec004978d752"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn 2.0.72",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "tokio-util"
 version = "0.7.11"
@@ -3608,16 +3723,32 @@ dependencies = [
 ]
 
 [[package]]
-name = "tower-layer"
-version = "0.3.2"
+name = "tower"
+version = "0.5.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "c20c8dbed6283a09604c3e69b4b7eeb54e298b8a600d4d5ecb5ad39de609f1d0"
+checksum = "2873938d487c3cfb9aed7546dc9f2711d867c9f90c46b889989a2cb84eba6b4f"
+dependencies = [
+ "futures-core",
+ "futures-util",
+ "pin-project-lite",
+ "sync_wrapper 0.1.2",
+ "tokio",
+ "tower-layer",
+ "tower-service",
+ "tracing",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "tower-layer"
+version = "0.3.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "121c2a6cda46980bb0fcd1647ffaf6cd3fc79a013de288782836f6df9c48780e"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "tower-service"
-version = "0.3.2"
+version = "0.3.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "b6bc1c9ce2b5135ac7f93c72918fc37feb872bdc6a5533a8b85eb4b86bfdae52"
+checksum = "8df9b6e13f2d32c91b9bd719c00d1958837bc7dec474d94952798cc8e69eeec3"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "tracing"
@@ -3625,6 +3756,7 @@ version = "0.1.40"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "c3523ab5a71916ccf420eebdf5521fcef02141234bbc0b8a49f2fdc4544364ef"
 dependencies = [
+ "log",
  "pin-project-lite",
  "tracing-attributes",
  "tracing-core",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 60a6b1b..a4ff5d4 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 [workspace]
 resolver = "2"
 members = [
-    "crates/sesam-vitale",
+    "crates/backend",
     "crates/desktop",
+    "crates/sesam-vitale",
     "crates/utils",
 ]
diff --git a/crates/backend/Cargo.toml b/crates/backend/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b7e7d2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/backend/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+[package]
+name = "backend"
+version = "0.1.0"
+edition = "2021"
+
+[dependencies]
+axum = "0.7.6"
+tokio = { version = "1.40.0", features = ["macros", "rt-multi-thread"] }
diff --git a/crates/backend/src/lib.rs b/crates/backend/src/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f1c0602
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/backend/src/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+use axum::http::{StatusCode, Uri};
+use axum::{routing::get, Router};
+
+pub fn get_router() -> Router {
+    Router::new()
+        .route("/", get(|| async { "Hello, world!" }))
+        .fallback(fallback)
+}
+
+async fn fallback(uri: Uri) -> (StatusCode, String) {
+    (StatusCode::NOT_FOUND, format!("No route for {uri}"))
+}
diff --git a/crates/backend/src/main.rs b/crates/backend/src/main.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2315ddb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/backend/src/main.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+use backend::get_router;
+
+#[tokio::main]
+async fn main() {
+    let app = get_router();
+    let listener = tokio::net::TcpListener::bind("0.0.0.0:8080").await.unwrap();
+
+    println!("Listening on {}", listener.local_addr().unwrap());
+    axum::serve(listener, app).await.unwrap();
+}