diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c8e174e..9dad614 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,3 +1,57 @@
 # webapp-service-api-stack
 
-Stack for deploying the webapp service api
\ No newline at end of file
+Stack definition for the webapp api service.
+
+## Running this stack locally
+
+(Assumes stack-orchestrator and docker are already installed)
+
+### Fetch the stack repo
+
+```
+$ laconic-so fetch-stack git.vdb.to/cerc-io/webapp-service-api-stack --pull
+```
+
+### Clone project repositories
+
+```
+$ laconic-so --stack ~/cerc/webapp-service-api-stack/stack-orchestrator/stacks/snowballtools-base-backend setup-repositories --git-ssh --pull
+```
+
+### Build service container
+
+(Might take 10 minutes)
+
+```
+$ laconic-so --stack ~/cerc/webapp-service-api-stack/stack-orchestrator/stacks/snowballtools-base-backend build-containers
+```
+
+### Create a deployment
+
+A deployment is a collection of all the stuff needed to run a single instance of a stack, in this case the snowball api service.
+
+Initialize:
+
+```
+$ laconic-so --stack ~/cerc/webapp-service-api-stack/stack-orchestrator/stacks/snowballtools-base-backend deploy init --output local-deployment-spec.yml --config SNOWBALL_BACKEND_CONFIG_FILE_PATH=/config/local.toml
+```
+Then create:
+```
+$ laconic-so --stack ~/cerc/webapp-service-api-stack/stack-orchestrator/stacks/snowballtools-base-backend deploy create --deployment-dir local-deployment --spec-file local-deployment-spec.yml
+```
+Next create a file at `local-deployment/data/config/local.toml` with this content:
+```
+<redacted>
+```
+Finally start the service:
+```
+$ laconic-so deployment --dir local-deployment start
+```
+To check logs:
+```
+$ laconic-so deployment --dir local-deployment logs
+```
+To stop the service:
+```
+$ laconic-so deployment --dir local-deployment stop
+```
diff --git a/stack-orchestrator/compose/docker-compose-snowballtools-base-backend.yml b/stack-orchestrator/compose/docker-compose-snowballtools-base-backend.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4e9b837
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stack-orchestrator/compose/docker-compose-snowballtools-base-backend.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+services:
+  snowballtools-base-backend:
+    image: cerc/snowballtools-base-backend:local
+    restart: always
+    environment:
+      CERC_SCRIPT_DEBUG: ${CERC_SCRIPT_DEBUG}
+      SNOWBALL_BACKEND_CONFIG_FILE_PATH: ${SNOWBALL_BACKEND_CONFIG_FILE_PATH}
+    volumes:
+      - data:/data
+      - config:/config:ro
+    ports:
+      - 8000
+
+volumes:
+  data:
+  config:
diff --git a/stack-orchestrator/container-build/cerc-snowballtools-base-backend/Dockerfile b/stack-orchestrator/container-build/cerc-snowballtools-base-backend/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ca5c458
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stack-orchestrator/container-build/cerc-snowballtools-base-backend/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+FROM cerc/snowballtools-base-backend-base:local
+
+WORKDIR /app/packages/backend
+COPY run.sh .
+
+ENTRYPOINT ["./run.sh"]
diff --git a/stack-orchestrator/container-build/cerc-snowballtools-base-backend/Dockerfile-base b/stack-orchestrator/container-build/cerc-snowballtools-base-backend/Dockerfile-base
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7a264ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stack-orchestrator/container-build/cerc-snowballtools-base-backend/Dockerfile-base
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+FROM ubuntu:22.04 as builder
+
+RUN apt update && \
+      apt install -y --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests \
+      ca-certificates curl gnupg
+
+# Node
+ARG NODE_MAJOR=20
+RUN curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/gpgkey/nodesource-repo.gpg.key | gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg && \
+      echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg] https://deb.nodesource.com/node_$NODE_MAJOR.x nodistro main" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nodesource.list && \
+      apt update && apt install -y nodejs
+
+# npm setup
+RUN npm config set @cerc-io:registry https://git.vdb.to/api/packages/cerc-io/npm/ && npm install -g yarn
+
+COPY . /app/
+WORKDIR /app/
+
+RUN find . -name 'node_modules' | xargs -n1 rm -rf
+RUN yarn && yarn build --ignore frontend
+
+FROM cerc/webapp-base:local
+
+COPY --from=builder /app /app
+
+WORKDIR /app/packages/backend
diff --git a/stack-orchestrator/container-build/cerc-snowballtools-base-backend/build.sh b/stack-orchestrator/container-build/cerc-snowballtools-base-backend/build.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..4f7c7cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stack-orchestrator/container-build/cerc-snowballtools-base-backend/build.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Build cerc/webapp-deployer-backend
+
+source ${CERC_CONTAINER_BASE_DIR}/build-base.sh
+
+# See: https://stackoverflow.com/a/246128/1701505
+SCRIPT_DIR=$( cd -- "$( dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" &> /dev/null && pwd )
+
+docker build -t cerc/snowballtools-base-backend-base:local ${build_command_args} -f ${SCRIPT_DIR}/Dockerfile-base ${CERC_REPO_BASE_DIR}/snowballtools-base
+docker build -t cerc/snowballtools-base-backend:local ${build_command_args} ${SCRIPT_DIR} 
diff --git a/stack-orchestrator/container-build/cerc-snowballtools-base-backend/run.sh b/stack-orchestrator/container-build/cerc-snowballtools-base-backend/run.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..ae14ed1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stack-orchestrator/container-build/cerc-snowballtools-base-backend/run.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+
+LACONIC_HOSTED_CONFIG_FILE=${LACONIC_HOSTED_CONFIG_FILE}
+if [ -z "${LACONIC_HOSTED_CONFIG_FILE}" ]; then
+  if [ -f "/config/laconic-hosted-config.yml" ]; then
+    LACONIC_HOSTED_CONFIG_FILE="/config/laconic-hosted-config.yml"
+  elif [ -f "/config/config.yml" ]; then
+    LACONIC_HOSTED_CONFIG_FILE="/config/config.yml"
+  fi
+fi
+
+if [ -f "${LACONIC_HOSTED_CONFIG_FILE}" ]; then
+  /scripts/apply-webapp-config.sh $LACONIC_HOSTED_CONFIG_FILE "`pwd`/dist"
+fi
+
+/scripts/apply-runtime-env.sh "`pwd`/dist"
+
+yarn start
diff --git a/stack-orchestrator/stacks/webapp-service-backend/stack.yml b/stack-orchestrator/stacks/webapp-service-backend/stack.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9c31d37
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stack-orchestrator/stacks/webapp-service-backend/stack.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+version: "1.0"
+name: webapp-service-backend
+description: "webapp service backend"
+repos:
+  - git.vdb.to/cerc-io/snowballtools-base
+containers:
+  - cerc/webapp-base
+  - cerc/snowballtools-base-backend
+pods:
+  - snowballtools-base-backend