diff --git a/packages/backend/environments/local.toml b/packages/backend/environments/local.toml
index fcc120fe..b1f8d7df 100644
--- a/packages/backend/environments/local.toml
+++ b/packages/backend/environments/local.toml
@@ -2,3 +2,6 @@
   host = "127.0.0.1"
   port = 8000
   gqlPath = "/graphql"
+
+[database]
+  dbPath = "db/snowball"
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/type.ts b/packages/backend/src/config.ts
similarity index 62%
rename from packages/backend/src/type.ts
rename to packages/backend/src/config.ts
index 451445f2..68451e2b 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/type.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/config.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,11 @@ export interface ServerConfig {
   gqlPath?: string;
 }
 
+export interface DatabaseConfig {
+  dbPath: string;
+}
+
 export interface Config {
   server: ServerConfig;
+  database: DatabaseConfig;
 }
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/constants.ts b/packages/backend/src/constants.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..31b52860
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/backend/src/constants.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+export const DEFAULT_GQL_PATH = '/graphql';
+
+// Note: temporary hardcoded user, later to be derived from auth token
+export const USER_ID = 1;
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/database.ts b/packages/backend/src/database.ts
index 0739a55f..329bbe8f 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/database.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/database.ts
@@ -2,23 +2,35 @@ import { DataSource } from 'typeorm';
 import path from 'path';
 import debug from 'debug';
 
-const log = debug('snowball:server');
+import { User } from './entity/User';
+import { DatabaseConfig } from './config';
 
-export const initializeDatabase = async (
-  database: string = 'db/snowball'
-): Promise<void> => {
-  try {
-    const AppDataSource = new DataSource({
+const log = debug('snowball:database');
+
+export class Database {
+  private dataSource: DataSource;
+
+  constructor ({ dbPath }: DatabaseConfig) {
+    this.dataSource = new DataSource({
       type: 'better-sqlite3',
-      database,
+      database: dbPath,
       entities: [path.join(__dirname, '/entity/*')],
       synchronize: true,
       logging: false
     });
-
-    await AppDataSource.initialize();
-    log('database initialized');
-  } catch (error) {
-    log(error);
   }
-};
+
+  async init () : Promise<void> {
+    await this.dataSource.initialize();
+    log('database initialized');
+  }
+
+  async getUser (userId: number) : Promise<User | null> {
+    const userRepository = this.dataSource.getRepository(User);
+    const user = await userRepository.findOneBy({
+      id: userId
+    });
+
+    return user;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/index.ts b/packages/backend/src/index.ts
index 7fa58981..c1fef9f3 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/index.ts
@@ -3,22 +3,26 @@ import debug from 'debug';
 import fs from 'fs';
 import path from 'path';
 
-import { initializeDatabase } from './database';
+import { Database } from './database';
 import { createAndStartServer } from './server';
 import { createResolvers } from './resolvers';
 import { getConfig } from './utils';
-import { Config } from './type';
+import { Config } from './config';
 
 const log = debug('snowball:server');
 const configFilePath = 'environments/local.toml';
 
 export const main = async (): Promise<void> => {
   // TODO: get config path using cli
-  const { server } = await getConfig<Config>(configFilePath);
+  const { server, database } = await getConfig<Config>(configFilePath);
+
+  const db = new Database(database);
+  await db.init();
 
-  await initializeDatabase();
   const typeDefs = fs.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, 'schema.gql')).toString();
-  await createAndStartServer(typeDefs, createResolvers, server);
+  const resolvers = await createResolvers(db);
+
+  await createAndStartServer(typeDefs, resolvers, server);
 };
 
 main()
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/resolvers.ts b/packages/backend/src/resolvers.ts
index 8a745398..60ec3cfd 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/resolvers.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/resolvers.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,16 @@
-const user = {
-  id: 2
-};
+import { Database } from './database';
 
-export const createResolvers = async (): Promise<any> => {
+export const createResolvers = async (db: Database): Promise<any> => {
   return {
     Query: {
-      // TODO: fetch user data from db
-      user: () => user
+      user: (
+        _: any,
+        __: any,
+        // TODO: add custom type for context
+        context: any
+      ) => {
+        return db.getUser(context.userId);
+      }
     }
   };
 };
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/server.ts b/packages/backend/src/server.ts
index 24c4e6b5..477a886f 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/server.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/server.ts
@@ -10,12 +10,11 @@ import {
 import { TypeSource } from '@graphql-tools/utils';
 import { makeExecutableSchema } from '@graphql-tools/schema';
 
-import { ServerConfig } from './type';
+import { ServerConfig } from './config';
+import { DEFAULT_GQL_PATH, USER_ID } from './constants';
 
 const log = debug('snowball:server');
 
-const DEFAULT_GQL_PATH = '/graphql';
-
 export const createAndStartServer = async (
   typeDefs: TypeSource,
   resolvers: any,
@@ -31,12 +30,16 @@ export const createAndStartServer = async (
   // Create the schema
   const schema = makeExecutableSchema({
     typeDefs,
-    resolvers: await resolvers()
+    resolvers
   });
 
   const server = new ApolloServer({
     schema,
     csrfPrevention: true,
+    context: () => {
+      // TODO: Use userId derived from auth token
+      return { userId: USER_ID };
+    },
     plugins: [
       // Proper shutdown for the HTTP server
       ApolloServerPluginDrainHttpServer({ httpServer }),