diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..784e14f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+# Copyright DB InfraGO AG and contributors
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+CAPELLA_MODEL_EXPLORER_HOST_IP ?= 127.0.0.1
+CAPELLA_MODEL_EXPLORER_PORT ?= 8000
+MODEL ?= coffee-machine
+
+.PHONY: help
+help:
+	@echo 'Available make targets:'
+	@echo ''
+	@echo '    run MODEL=/some/model.aird'
+	@echo '                    -- Run the backend with a model'
+	@echo '    build-frontend  -- Build the prod frontend files'
+	@echo '    dev-frontend    -- Run the frontend in dev mode'
+	@echo '    storybook       -- Run storybook for frontend development'
+	@echo '    clean-frontend  -- Clean out all built/installed frontend files'
+
+.PHONY: run
+run: frontend/dist/static/env.js
+	sed -i "s|__ROUTE_PREFIX__||g" frontend/dist/static/env.js
+	MODE=production python frontend/fetch-version.py
+	python -c "from capellambse_context_diagrams import install_elk; install_elk()"
+	MODE=production python -m capella_model_explorer.backend "$$MODEL" ./templates
+
+.PHONY: build-frontend
+build-frontend: frontend/node_modules
+	cd frontend && npm run build
+
+.PHONY: dev-frontend
+dev-frontend: frontend/node_modules
+	cd frontend && npm run dev
+
+.PHONY: storybook
+storybook: frontend/node_modules
+	cd frontend && npm run storybook
+
+.PHONY: clean-frontend
+clean-frontend:
+	cd frontend && rm -rf dist node_modules
+
+frontend/dist/static/env.js: frontend/node_modules
+	cd frontend && npm run build
+
+frontend/node_modules: frontend/package.json frontend/package-lock.json
+	cd frontend && npm install
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0900f9d..a1f08fa 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -81,17 +81,39 @@ pip install -e '.[docs,test]'
 pre-commit install
 ```
 
-# Front-end development
+# Development
 
-To develop the frontend:
+This repo contains a Makefile with recipes for a few commonly needed tasks
+during development. Run `make help` for more details.
+
+## Developing the frontend
+
+To develop frontend components, run:
+
+```bash
+make storybook
+```
+
+To develop the app as a whole, run:
+
+```bash
+make dev-frontend
+```
+
+Note that this requires a running backend server, see the next section.
+
+## Backend development
+
+To run the backend, use the following command:
 
 ```bash
-cd frontend
-npm install
+make run MODEL=../path/to/model.aird
 ```
 
-then, to develop components `npm run storybook` and to develop the whole app
-`npm run dev`
+This will start the API server on <http://localhost:8000>, where it will serve
+the frontend in production mode. These static files can be rebuilt with `make
+build-frontend`, although it is usually more convenient to run the frontend in
+development mode with `make dev-frontend` (see above).
 
 # Integration in the Capella Collaboration Manager