diff --git a/backend/app/__init.py__ b/backend/app/__init.py__
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/backend/app/database.py b/backend/app/database.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..294d7e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/app/database.py
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+import os
+from collections.abc import AsyncGenerator
+
+from dotenv import load_dotenv
+from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import AsyncSession, async_sessionmaker, create_async_engine
+from sqlmodel import SQLModel
+
+load_dotenv()
+
+DATABASE_URL = os.environ["DATABASE_URL"]
+
+engine = create_async_engine(DATABASE_URL, echo=False)
+
+_session_factory = async_sessionmaker(engine, expire_on_commit=False)
+
+
+async def get_session() -> AsyncGenerator[AsyncSession]:
+    """FastAPI dependency — yields one session per request, closed on exit."""
+    async with _session_factory() as session:
+        yield session
+
+
+async def create_db_and_tables() -> None:
+    """Create every table registered in SQLModel.metadata (runs on startup)."""
+    async with engine.begin() as conn:
+        await conn.run_sync(SQLModel.metadata.create_all)
diff --git a/backend/app/main.py b/backend/app/main.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cfd2dd0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/app/main.py
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+from collections.abc import AsyncGenerator
+from contextlib import asynccontextmanager
+
+from fastapi import FastAPI
+
+from app.database import create_db_and_tables
+
+
+# lifespan replaces the deprecated on_event("startup") pattern.
+# Code before `yield` runs on startup; code after runs on shutdown.
+@asynccontextmanager
+async def lifespan(app: FastAPI) -> AsyncGenerator[None, None]:
+    await create_db_and_tables()
+    yield
+
+
+app = FastAPI(lifespan=lifespan)
+
+
+@app.get("/health")
+def health() -> dict[str, str]:
+    return {"status": "ok"}
diff --git a/backend/main.py b/backend/main.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 997a4ad..0000000
--- a/backend/main.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-def main():
-    print("Hello from backend!")
-
-
-if __name__ == "__main__":
-    main()
diff --git a/backend/pyproject.toml b/backend/pyproject.toml
index f13e8dc..93e127c 100644
--- a/backend/pyproject.toml
+++ b/backend/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,12 @@ version = "0.1.0"
 description = "Add your description here"
 readme = "README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.12"
-dependencies = []
+dependencies = [
+    "fastapi[standard]>=0.115",
+    "sqlmodel>=0.0.22",
+    "asyncpg>=0.30",
+    "python-dotenv>=1.0",
+]
 [tool.ruff]
 target-version = "py313"
 line-length = 88