diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 71362317..3eb9fb54 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -74,3 +74,9 @@ typings/
 
 # Amplify configs for the frontend app
 taui/src/aws-exports.js
+
+# Byte-compiled / optimized / DLL files
+__pycache__/
+*.py[cod]
+
+src/backend/static
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2ff0dbc8..9088dac3 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -67,6 +67,21 @@ versions are not installed).
 Navigate to http://localhost:9966 to view the development environment.
 
 
+### STRTA
+
+This project uses [`scripts-to-rule-them-all`](https://github.com/azavea/architecture/blob/master/doc/arch/adr-0000-scripts-to-rule-them-all.md) to bootstrap, test, and maintain projects consistently across all teams. Below is a quick explanation for the specific usage of each script.
+
+| Script      | Use                                                        |
+| ----------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `bootstrap` | Pull down secrets from S3                                  |
+| `infra`     | Execute Terraform subcommands with remote state management |
+| `manage`    | Issue Django management commands                           |
+| `server`    | Start the frontend and backend services                    |
+| `setup`     | Setup the project development environment                  |
+| `test`      | Run linters and tests                                      |
+| `update`    | Update project, assemble, run migrations                   |
+
+
 ### Logging In
 
 Once it is running, log in using staging credentials. From there, you can make a Client ID by
diff --git a/docker-compose.ci.yml b/docker-compose.ci.yml
index 52cb8b39..12a97572 100644
--- a/docker-compose.ci.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.ci.yml
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
-version: '3'
+version: '2.1'
 services:
   taui:
     environment:
       - AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID
       - AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
+
   terraform:
     image: quay.io/azavea/terraform:0.11.11
     volumes:
@@ -17,6 +18,7 @@ services:
       - ECHOLOCATOR_SITE_BUCKET=${ECHOLOCATOR_SITE_BUCKET:-echo-locator-staging-site-us-east-1}
     working_dir: /usr/local/src
     entrypoint: bash
+
   amplify:
     build: ./deployment/amplify
     volumes:
@@ -24,3 +26,6 @@ services:
       - $HOME/.aws:/root/.aws:ro
     working_dir: /usr/local/src
     entrypoint: bash
+
+  django:
+    image: "echolocator:${GIT_COMMIT:-latest}"
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 1356d4fe..0ae7afaa 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-version: '3'
+version: '2.1'
 services:
   taui:
     build: ./taui
@@ -10,3 +10,52 @@ services:
       - "9966:9966"
     entrypoint: yarn
     command: start
+
+  django:
+    image: echolocator
+    environment:
+      - POSTGRES_HOST=database
+      - POSTGRES_PORT=5432
+      - POSTGRES_USER=echolocator
+      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=echolocator
+      - POSTGRES_DB=echolocator
+      - DJANGO_ENV=Development
+      - DJANGO_SECRET_KEY=secret
+      - DJANGO_LOG_LEVEL=INFO
+    build:
+      context: ./src/backend
+      dockerfile: Dockerfile
+    volumes:
+      - ./src/backend:/usr/local/src/backend
+      - $HOME/.aws:/root/.aws:ro
+    working_dir: /usr/local/src/backend
+    depends_on:
+      database:
+        condition: service_healthy
+    command:
+      - "-b :8085"
+      - "--reload"
+      - "--timeout=90"
+      - "--access-logfile=-"
+      - "--error-logfile=-"
+      - "--log-level=debug"
+      - "echo.wsgi"
+    ports:
+      - "8085:8085"
+    cpus: 2
+
+  database:
+    image: postgis/postgis:13-3.1
+    expose:
+      - "5432"
+    environment:
+      - POSTGRES_USER=echolocator
+      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=echolocator
+      - POSTGRES_DB=echolocator
+    healthcheck:
+      test: [ "CMD", "pg_isready", "-U", "echolocator" ]
+      interval: 3s
+      timeout: 3s
+      retries: 3
+      start_period: 5s
+    command: postgres -c log_statement=all
diff --git a/scripts/bootstrap b/scripts/bootstrap
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..ec12c99f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/bootstrap
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -e
+
+if [[ -n "${ECHOLOCATOR_DEBUG}" ]]; then
+    set -x
+fi
+
+DIR="$(dirname "${0}")/../"
+
+function usage() {
+    echo -n \
+        "Usage: $(basename "$0")
+Pull down secrets from S3.
+"
+}
+
+# TODO: potentially as a part of this issue: https://github.com/azavea/echo-locator/issues/376
+# after switching to a different bundler, we may want to copy and populate some env vars
+function pull_env() {
+    pushd "${DIR}"
+
+    echo "Pulling .env from ${1}"
+    # aws s3 cp "s3://${1}/.env" ".env"
+
+    popd
+}
+
+if [ "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" = "${0}" ]; then
+    if [ "${1:-}" = "--help" ]; then
+        usage
+    else
+        pull_env
+    fi
+fi
diff --git a/scripts/manage b/scripts/manage
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..6419c83b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/manage
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -e
+
+if [[ -n "${ECHOLOCATOR_DEBUG}" ]]; then
+    set -x
+fi
+
+function usage() {
+    echo -n \
+        "Usage: $(basename "$0")
+Run a Django management command
+"
+}
+
+if [ "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" = "${0}" ]; then
+    if [ "${1:-}" = "--help" ]; then
+        usage
+    else
+        docker-compose \
+            run --rm --entrypoint python \
+            django \
+            manage.py "$@"
+    fi
+fi
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/server b/scripts/server
index da24ecc2..ef718d22 100755
--- a/scripts/server
+++ b/scripts/server
@@ -9,8 +9,7 @@ fi
 function usage() {
     echo -n \
          "Usage: $(basename "$0")
-
-Run a development server.
+Starts servers using docker-compose.
 "
 }
 
@@ -20,6 +19,6 @@ then
     then
         usage
     else
-        docker-compose up --build
+        docker-compose up
     fi
 fi
diff --git a/scripts/setup b/scripts/setup
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..8b2f67bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/setup
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -e
+
+if [[ -n "${ECHOLOCATOR_DEBUG}" ]]; then
+    set -x
+fi
+
+function usage() {
+    echo -n \
+        "Usage: $(basename "$0")
+Attempts to setup the project's development environment.
+"
+}
+
+if [ "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" = "${0}" ]; then
+    if [ "${1:-}" = "--help" ]; then
+        usage
+    else
+        ./scripts/bootstrap
+        ./scripts/update
+    fi
+fi
diff --git a/scripts/update b/scripts/update
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..bbe46159
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/update
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -e
+
+if [[ -n "${ECHOLOCATOR_DEBUG}" ]]; then
+    set -x
+fi
+
+function usage() {
+    echo -n \
+        "Usage: $(basename "$0")
+Build container images and execute database migrations.
+"
+}
+
+function cleanup() {
+    docker-compose stop
+}
+
+trap cleanup ERR
+
+if [ "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" = "${0}" ]; then
+    if [ "${1:-}" = "--help" ]; then
+        usage
+    else
+        # Ensure container images are current
+        docker-compose build
+
+        # Bring up PostgreSQL and Django in a way that respects
+        # configured service health checks.
+        docker-compose up -d database django
+
+        # Apply any outstanding Django migrations
+        ./scripts/manage migrate
+
+        # Collect Django static files
+        ./scripts/manage collectstatic --no-input
+        
+        docker-compose stop
+    fi
+fi
diff --git a/src/backend/Dockerfile b/src/backend/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1136510b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+FROM quay.io/azavea/django:3.2-python3.9-slim
+
+RUN mkdir -p /usr/local/src/backend
+WORKDIR /usr/local/src/backend
+
+COPY requirements.txt /usr/local/src/backend/
+RUN set -ex \
+    && buildDeps=" \
+    build-essential \
+    " \
+    && deps=" \
+    postgresql-client-13 \
+    " \
+    && apt-get update && apt-get install -y $buildDeps $deps --no-install-recommends \
+    && pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt \
+    && apt-get purge -y --auto-remove $buildDeps
+
+COPY . /usr/local/src/backend
+
+CMD ["-b :8085", \
+    "--workers=1", \
+    "--timeout=60", \
+    "--access-logfile=-", \
+    "--access-logformat=%({X-Forwarded-For}i)s %(h)s %(l)s %(u)s %(t)s \"%(r)s\" %(s)s %(b)s \"%(f)s\" \"%(a)s\"", \
+    "--error-logfile=-", \
+    "--log-level=info", \
+    "--capture-output", \
+    "echo.wsgi"]
diff --git a/src/backend/api/__init__.py b/src/backend/api/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e8662783
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/api/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+default_app_config = 'api.apps.ApiConfig'
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/backend/api/admin.py b/src/backend/api/admin.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8c38f3f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/api/admin.py
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+from django.contrib import admin
+
+# Register your models here.
diff --git a/src/backend/api/apps.py b/src/backend/api/apps.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..66656fd2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/api/apps.py
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+from django.apps import AppConfig
+
+
+class ApiConfig(AppConfig):
+    default_auto_field = 'django.db.models.BigAutoField'
+    name = 'api'
diff --git a/src/backend/api/migrations/__init__.py b/src/backend/api/migrations/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/src/backend/api/models.py b/src/backend/api/models.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..71a83623
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/api/models.py
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+from django.db import models
+
+# Create your models here.
diff --git a/src/backend/api/tests.py b/src/backend/api/tests.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7ce503c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/api/tests.py
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+from django.test import TestCase
+
+# Create your tests here.
diff --git a/src/backend/api/views.py b/src/backend/api/views.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0b6e719d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/api/views.py
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+from rest_framework.response import Response
+from rest_framework import status
+from rest_framework.decorators import api_view
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/backend/echo/__init__.py b/src/backend/echo/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/src/backend/echo/asgi.py b/src/backend/echo/asgi.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f0679667
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/echo/asgi.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+"""
+ASGI config for echo project.
+
+It exposes the ASGI callable as a module-level variable named ``application``.
+
+For more information on this file, see
+https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/howto/deployment/asgi/
+"""
+
+import os
+
+from django.core.asgi import get_asgi_application
+
+os.environ.setdefault('DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE', 'echo.settings')
+
+application = get_asgi_application()
diff --git a/src/backend/echo/settings.py b/src/backend/echo/settings.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c8862fff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/echo/settings.py
@@ -0,0 +1,162 @@
+"""
+
+Generated by 'django-admin startproject' using Django 3.2.
+
+For more information on this file, see
+Django settings for echo project.
+
+https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/topics/settings/
+For the full list of settings and their values, see
+https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/ref/settings/
+"""
+
+import os
+
+from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
+from pathlib import Path
+
+# Build paths inside the project like this: BASE_DIR / 'subdir'.
+BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+
+# Quick-start development settings - unsuitable for production
+# See https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/howto/deployment/checklist/
+
+# SECURITY WARNING: keep the secret key used in production secret!
+SECRET_KEY = os.getenv('DJANGO_SECRET_KEY', 'secret')
+
+# Set environment
+ENVIRONMENT = os.getenv('DJANGO_ENV', 'Development')
+VALID_ENVIRONMENTS = ('Production', 'Staging', 'Development')
+if ENVIRONMENT not in VALID_ENVIRONMENTS:
+    raise ImproperlyConfigured(
+        'Invalid ENVIRONMENT provided, must be one of {}'
+        .format(VALID_ENVIRONMENTS))
+
+LOGLEVEL = os.getenv('DJANGO_LOG_LEVEL', 'INFO')
+
+# SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
+DEBUG = (ENVIRONMENT == 'Development')
+
+ALLOWED_HOSTS = []
+
+if ENVIRONMENT == 'Development':
+    ALLOWED_HOSTS.append('localhost')
+    ALLOWED_HOSTS.append('django')
+
+# Application definition
+
+INSTALLED_APPS = [
+    'whitenoise.runserver_nostatic',
+    'django.contrib.admin',
+    'django.contrib.auth',
+    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
+    'django.contrib.gis',
+    'django.contrib.sessions',
+    'django.contrib.messages',
+    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
+    'django_extensions',
+    'rest_framework',
+    'rest_framework_gis',
+    'api',
+]
+
+MIDDLEWARE = [
+    'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
+    'whitenoise.middleware.WhiteNoiseMiddleware',
+    'spa.middleware.SPAMiddleware',
+    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
+    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
+    'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
+    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
+    'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
+    'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
+]
+
+ROOT_URLCONF = 'echo.urls'
+
+TEMPLATES = [
+    {
+        'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
+        'DIRS': [],
+        'APP_DIRS': True,
+        'OPTIONS': {
+            'context_processors': [
+                'django.template.context_processors.debug',
+                'django.template.context_processors.request',
+                'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
+                'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
+            ],
+        },
+    },
+]
+
+WSGI_APPLICATION = 'echo.wsgi.application'
+
+
+# Database
+# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/ref/settings/#databases
+
+DATABASES = {
+    'default': {
+        'ENGINE': 'django.contrib.gis.db.backends.postgis',
+        'NAME': os.getenv('POSTGRES_DB'),
+        'USER': os.getenv('POSTGRES_USER'),
+        'PASSWORD': os.getenv('POSTGRES_PASSWORD'),
+        'HOST': os.getenv('POSTGRES_HOST'),
+        'PORT': os.getenv('POSTGRES_PORT')
+    }
+}
+
+
+# Password validation
+# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/ref/settings/#auth-password-validators
+
+AUTH_PASSWORD_VALIDATORS = [
+    {
+        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.UserAttributeSimilarityValidator',
+    },
+    {
+        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.MinimumLengthValidator',
+    },
+    {
+        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.CommonPasswordValidator',
+    },
+    {
+        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.NumericPasswordValidator',
+    },
+]
+
+
+# Internationalization
+# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/topics/i18n/
+
+LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en-us'
+
+TIME_ZONE = 'UTC'
+
+USE_I18N = True
+
+USE_L10N = True
+
+USE_TZ = True
+
+
+# Static files (CSS, JavaScript, Images)
+# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/howto/static-files/
+
+STATIC_URL = '/static/'
+STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static')
+
+# Set the django-spa static file storage:
+STATICFILES_STORAGE = 'spa.storage.SPAStaticFilesStorage'
+
+# Default primary key field type
+# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/ref/settings/#default-auto-field
+
+DEFAULT_AUTO_FIELD = 'django.db.models.BigAutoField'
+
+WATCHMAN_ERROR_CODE = 503
+WATCHMAN_CHECKS = (
+    'watchman.checks.databases',
+    'api.checks.gazetteercache'
+)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/backend/echo/urls.py b/src/backend/echo/urls.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..76624b63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/echo/urls.py
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+"""echo URL Configuration
+
+The `urlpatterns` list routes URLs to views. For more information please see:
+    https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/topics/http/urls/
+Examples:
+Function views
+    1. Add an import:  from my_app import views
+    2. Add a URL to urlpatterns:  path('', views.home, name='home')
+Class-based views
+    1. Add an import:  from other_app.views import Home
+    2. Add a URL to urlpatterns:  path('', Home.as_view(), name='home')
+Including another URLconf
+    1. Import the include() function: from django.urls import include, path
+    2. Add a URL to urlpatterns:  path('blog/', include('blog.urls'))
+"""
+from django.contrib import admin
+from django.urls import path
+from django.conf.urls.static import static
+
+from echo import settings
+
+urlpatterns = static(settings.STATIC_URL, document_root=settings.STATIC_ROOT)
diff --git a/src/backend/echo/wsgi.py b/src/backend/echo/wsgi.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..35ee16ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/echo/wsgi.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+"""
+WSGI config for echo project.
+
+It exposes the WSGI callable as a module-level variable named ``application``.
+
+For more information on this file, see
+https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/howto/deployment/wsgi/
+"""
+
+import os
+
+from django.core.wsgi import get_wsgi_application
+
+os.environ.setdefault('DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE', 'echo.settings')
+
+application = get_wsgi_application()
diff --git a/src/backend/manage.py b/src/backend/manage.py
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..5e67a341
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/manage.py
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+"""Django's command-line utility for administrative tasks."""
+import os
+import sys
+
+
+def main():
+    """Run administrative tasks."""
+    os.environ.setdefault('DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE', 'echo.settings')
+    try:
+        from django.core.management import execute_from_command_line
+    except ImportError as exc:
+        raise ImportError(
+            "Couldn't import Django. Are you sure it's installed and "
+            "available on your PYTHONPATH environment variable? Did you "
+            "forget to activate a virtual environment?"
+        ) from exc
+    execute_from_command_line(sys.argv)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()
diff --git a/src/backend/requirements.txt b/src/backend/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..aaa53fdf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+django-extensions==3.1.5
+django-watchman==1.3.0
+djangorestframework-gis==0.18
+djangorestframework==3.13.1
+django-spa==0.3.6
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/taui/package.json b/taui/package.json
index 57b27d40..6c76c5f5 100644
--- a/taui/package.json
+++ b/taui/package.json
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
     "prestart": "yarn",
     "pretest": "yarn",
     "semantic-release": "semantic-release",
-    "start": "mastarm build --serve --watch",
+    "start": "mastarm build --serve --watch --proxy http://django:8085",
     "test": "mastarm lint-js src --ignore-path src/.eslintignore && mastarm lint-styles --config .stylelintrc && mastarm lint-messages && mastarm build"
   },
   "repository": {
@@ -87,4 +87,4 @@
   "standard": {
     "parser": "babel-eslint"
   }
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file