diff --git a/.github/copilot-instructions.md b/.github/copilot-instructions.md
index ca33841..500b62d 100644
--- a/.github/copilot-instructions.md
+++ b/.github/copilot-instructions.md
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ Auto-Clarity: drop caveman for security warnings, irreversible actions, user con
 # Context: Tussilago
 A platform to run and host applications, with a focus on Python applications.
 - **Tech Stack**: Python 3.14+, Django 6, Celery, SQLite (platform), PostgreSQL/Redis (tenants).
-- **Infrastructure**: Podman, gVisor (sandboxing), Caddy (reverse proxy/load balancer).
+- **Infrastructure**: Firecracker microVMs (sandboxing), Podman (image/build workflow), Caddy (reverse proxy/load balancer).
 - **Tooling**: `uv` (package manager/runner), `pytest`, `ruff`.
 
 ## CRITICAL: Security & Architecture constraints
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ A platform to run and host applications, with a focus on Python applications.
 - **Subprocess**: NEVER use `os.system`. MUST use `subprocess.run(..., check=True, capture_output=True, text=True)`. Handle `subprocess.CalledProcessError` explicitly.
 - **Database IDs**: NEVER expose internal Linux UIDs (integers) to the frontend/API. MUST use `UUIDv4` for external references.
 - **Caddy**: MUST interact with Caddy strictly via its JSON REST API.
+- **Firecracker Isolation**: Tenant workloads MUST run inside Firecracker microVM boundaries. Do not assume host-level process trust; enforce per-VM network/storage isolation and explicit lifecycle control.
 - **PostgreSQL Isolation**: For shared-tier DBs, use logical isolation. Create roles with `NOSUPERUSER`, `CONNECTION LIMIT`, and configured `statement_timeout`.
 - **Connection Pooling**: Assume PgBouncer is active. In Django settings, `DISABLE_SERVER_SIDE_CURSORS = True` MUST be set.
 
@@ -67,7 +68,7 @@ A platform to run and host applications, with a focus on Python applications.
 - **Celery Tasks**:
   - **Idempotency**: All tasks MUST be idempotent. If a task fails halfway and retries, it MUST NOT corrupt the system or create duplicate containers.
   - **Serialization**: NEVER pass Django ORM instances as task arguments. Pass `UUID`s or primitive types and refetch the object inside the task.
-  - **Retries**: Always implement bounded exponential backoff for external interactions (e.g., interacting with the Caddy API or waiting for gVisor).
+  - **Retries**: Always implement bounded exponential backoff for external interactions (e.g., interacting with the Caddy API or waiting for Firecracker microVM readiness).
 
 ## Testing Standards
 - **Mocking**: NEVER allow test suites to execute real `podman` subprocess calls or make real HTTP requests to Caddy. MUST use `unittest.mock.patch` or `responses`/`httpx-mock` for external boundaries.
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 7e534e7..bac7f79 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -161,3 +161,7 @@ cython_debug/
 #  and can be added to the global gitignore or merged into this file.  For a more nuclear
 #  option (not recommended) you can uncomment the following to ignore the entire idea folder.
 #.idea/
+
+# Ignore files related to Firecracker microVM, except for get_rootfs.bash which is used in image preparation.
+Firecracker/*
+!Firecracker/get_rootfs.bash
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..94d8423
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+# Contributing
+
+## TL;DR
+
+### 1 Install system packages
+
+```bash
+sudo pacman -Syu --needed \
+  base-devel \
+  git \
+  python \
+  uv \
+  sqlite \
+  curl \
+  wget \
+  openssh \
+  squashfs-tools \
+  e2fsprogs \
+  caddy \
+  podman
+```
+
+Notes:
+- `uv` is package/dependency runner used by repo.
+- `squashfs-tools`, `openssh`, and `e2fsprogs` are needed for `get_rootfs.bash` image prep flow.
+
+### 2 Bootstrap project
+
+```bash
+uv sync
+```
+
+### 3 Day-to-day commands
+
+```bash
+uv run python manage.py check
+uv run pytest -n 5 -q
+uv run ruff check . --fix
+uv run ruff format .
+```
diff --git a/Firecracker/get_rootfs.bash b/Firecracker/get_rootfs.bash
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..c4abbe9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Firecracker/get_rootfs.bash
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# This script downloads the latest Linux kernel and rootfs images from Firecracker CI, patches the rootfs with an SSH key, and creates an ext4 filesystem image.
+
+required_commands=(
+    uname
+    curl
+    basename
+    grep
+    sort
+    tail
+    wget
+    unsquashfs
+    ssh-keygen
+    sudo
+    chown
+    truncate
+    mkfs.ext4
+    e2fsck
+)
+
+missing_commands=()
+for cmd in "${required_commands[@]}"; do
+    if ! command -v "$cmd" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+        missing_commands+=("$cmd")
+    fi
+done
+
+if [ ${#missing_commands[@]} -ne 0 ]; then
+    echo "ERROR: Missing required program(s): ${missing_commands[*]}" >&2
+    echo "Install missing dependencies and rerun." >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+ARCH="$(uname -m)"
+release_url="https://github.com/firecracker-microvm/firecracker/releases"
+latest_version=$(basename "$(curl -fsSLI -o /dev/null -w "%{url_effective}" "${release_url}/latest")")
+CI_VERSION=${latest_version%.*}
+latest_kernel_key=$(curl "http://spec.ccfc.min.s3.amazonaws.com/?prefix=firecracker-ci/$CI_VERSION/$ARCH/vmlinux-&list-type=2" \
+    | grep -oP "(?<=<Key>)(firecracker-ci/$CI_VERSION/$ARCH/vmlinux-[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]{1,3})(?=</Key>)" \
+    | sort -V | tail -1)
+
+# Download a linux kernel binary
+wget "https://s3.amazonaws.com/spec.ccfc.min/${latest_kernel_key}"
+
+latest_ubuntu_key=$(curl "http://spec.ccfc.min.s3.amazonaws.com/?prefix=firecracker-ci/$CI_VERSION/$ARCH/ubuntu-&list-type=2" \
+    | grep -oP "(?<=<Key>)(firecracker-ci/$CI_VERSION/$ARCH/ubuntu-[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.squashfs)(?=</Key>)" \
+    | sort -V | tail -1)
+ubuntu_version=$(basename "$latest_ubuntu_key" .squashfs | grep -oE '[0-9]+\.[0-9]+')
+
+# Download a rootfs from Firecracker CI
+wget -O "ubuntu-${ubuntu_version}.squashfs.upstream" "https://s3.amazonaws.com/spec.ccfc.min/$latest_ubuntu_key"
+
+# The rootfs in our CI doesn't contain SSH keys to connect to the VM
+# For the purpose of this demo, let's create one and patch it in the rootfs
+unsquashfs "ubuntu-${ubuntu_version}.squashfs.upstream"
+ssh-keygen -f id_rsa -N ""
+cp -v id_rsa.pub squashfs-root/root/.ssh/authorized_keys
+mv -v id_rsa "./ubuntu-${ubuntu_version}.id_rsa"
+# create ext4 filesystem image
+sudo chown -R root:root squashfs-root
+truncate -s 1G "ubuntu-${ubuntu_version}.ext4"
+sudo mkfs.ext4 -d squashfs-root -F "ubuntu-${ubuntu_version}.ext4"
+
+# Verify everything was correctly set up and print versions
+echo
+echo "The following files were downloaded and set up:"
+kernel_files=(./vmlinux-*)
+if [ -e "${kernel_files[0]}" ]; then
+    last_kernel_index=$((${#kernel_files[@]} - 1))
+    KERNEL="${kernel_files[$last_kernel_index]}"
+    echo "Kernel: $KERNEL"
+else
+    echo "ERROR: Kernel image does not exist"
+fi
+
+rootfs_files=(./*.ext4)
+if [ -e "${rootfs_files[0]}" ]; then
+    last_rootfs_index=$((${#rootfs_files[@]} - 1))
+    ROOTFS="${rootfs_files[$last_rootfs_index]}"
+    e2fsck -fn "$ROOTFS" &>/dev/null && echo "Rootfs: $ROOTFS" || echo "ERROR: $ROOTFS is not a valid ext4 fs"
+else
+    echo "ERROR: Rootfs image does not exist"
+fi
+
+key_files=(./*.id_rsa)
+if [ -e "${key_files[0]}" ]; then
+    last_key_index=$((${#key_files[@]} - 1))
+    KEY_NAME="${key_files[$last_key_index]}"
+    echo "SSH Key: $KEY_NAME"
+else
+    echo "ERROR: SSH key does not exist"
+fi
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2e9dc79..a5e5048 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ Email: tlovinator@gmail.com
 
 Discord: TheLovinator#9276
 
+# Contributing
+
+See `CONTRIBUTING.md` for developer setup and workflow.
+
 # License
 
 The AGPL license applies to the infrastructure platform (the SaaS backend, the deployment scripts, the web UI). It does not infect the user's code. If a tenant hosts a proprietary, closed-source application on this platform, their code remains completely theirs.
diff --git a/config/apps.py b/config/apps.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a8c292
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/apps.py
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+from django.apps import AppConfig
+
+
+class TussilagoConfig(AppConfig):
+    """Application config used to register startup hooks for config package."""
+
+    # TODO(TheLovinator): Consider creating an app with a more descriptive name for its purpose, e.g. "core" or "common".  # noqa: TD003
+
+    name = "config"
+    verbose_name = "Tussilago Config"
+
+    def ready(self) -> None:
+        """Register Django system checks after app loading."""
+        import config.checks  # pyright: ignore[reportUnusedImport]  # noqa: F401, PLC0415
diff --git a/config/checks.py b/config/checks.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e8f83cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/checks.py
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import shutil
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
+
+from django.conf import settings
+from django.core.checks import Tags
+from django.core.checks import Warning as DjangoWarning
+from django.core.checks import register
+
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from django.core.checks import CheckMessage
+
+REQUIRED_DEV_COMMANDS: tuple[str, ...] = (
+    "uname",
+    "curl",
+    "basename",
+    "grep",
+    "sort",
+    "tail",
+    "wget",
+    "unsquashfs",
+    "ssh-keygen",
+    "sudo",
+    "chown",
+    "truncate",
+    "mkfs.ext4",
+    "e2fsck",
+)
+
+
+@register(Tags.compatibility)
+def check_required_dev_commands(*_: object, **__: object) -> list[CheckMessage]:
+    """Warn in dev-like runtime when host tooling for init script is missing.
+
+    Returns:
+        A list of CheckMessage objects representing any issues found.
+    """
+    if not (settings.DEBUG or getattr(settings, "TESTING", False)):
+        return []
+
+    missing_commands: list[str] = [
+        command for command in REQUIRED_DEV_COMMANDS if shutil.which(command) is None
+    ]
+
+    if not missing_commands:
+        return []
+
+    return [
+        DjangoWarning(
+            "Missing host commands used by get_rootfs.bash.",
+            hint=(
+                "Dev-only tooling missing: "
+                f"{', '.join(missing_commands)}. "
+                "These are required for local VM/rootfs setup during development, not production runtime."
+            ),
+            id="tussilago.W001",
+        ),
+    ]
diff --git a/config/settings.py b/config/settings.py
index fc0c151..f8e40d5 100644
--- a/config/settings.py
+++ b/config/settings.py
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ if DEBUG:
     INTERNAL_IPS: list[str] = ["127.0.0.1", "localhost"]
 
 INSTALLED_APPS: list[str] = [
+    "config.apps.TussilagoConfig",
     "django.contrib.admin",
     "django.contrib.auth",
     "django.contrib.contenttypes",
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index b8fe5ce..480e7b5 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,11 +4,7 @@ version = "0.1.0"
 description = "A platform to run and host applications, with a focus on Python applications."
 readme = "README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.14"
-dependencies = [
-    "django>=6.0.4",
-    "platformdirs>=4.9.6",
-    "python-dotenv>=1.2.2",
-]
+dependencies = ["django>=6.0.4", "platformdirs>=4.9.6", "python-dotenv>=1.2.2"]
 license = "AGPL-3.0-or-later"
 authors = [{ name = "Joakim Hellsén", email = "tlovinator@gmail.com" }]
 
@@ -99,3 +95,4 @@ lint.ignore = [
 DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE = "config.settings"
 python_files = ["test_*.py", "*_test.py"]
 addopts = "-n 5 -q"
+norecursedirs = ["Firecracker"]
diff --git a/tests/test_dev_command_checks.py b/tests/test_dev_command_checks.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e996457
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_dev_command_checks.py
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from unittest.mock import patch
+
+from django.test import override_settings
+
+from config.checks import check_required_dev_commands
+
+
+@override_settings(DEBUG=False, TESTING=False)
+def test_command_check_is_silent_in_production_runtime() -> None:
+    """Production runtime must not warn about dev-only command dependencies."""
+    with patch("config.checks.shutil.which", return_value=None):
+        warnings = check_required_dev_commands()
+
+    assert warnings == []
+
+
+@override_settings(DEBUG=True, TESTING=False)
+def test_command_check_warns_and_mentions_dev_only_dependencies() -> None:
+    """Dev runtime must warn and clearly label these dependencies as dev-only."""
+
+    def fake_which(command: str) -> str | None:
+        if command == "curl":
+            return None
+        return f"/usr/bin/{command}"
+
+    with patch("config.checks.shutil.which", side_effect=fake_which):
+        warnings = check_required_dev_commands()
+
+    assert len(warnings) == 1
+    warning = warnings[0]
+    assert warning.id == "tussilago.W001"
+    assert warning.hint is not None
+    assert "Dev-only tooling missing" in warning.hint
+    assert "curl" in warning.hint
diff --git a/tests/test_dev_command_checks_integration.py b/tests/test_dev_command_checks_integration.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..08d46b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_dev_command_checks_integration.py
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from io import StringIO
+from unittest.mock import patch
+
+from django.core.management import call_command
+from django.test import override_settings
+
+
+@override_settings(DEBUG=True, TESTING=False)
+def test_dev_command_check_is_reported_by_check_command() -> None:
+    """System check must be visible through call_command without direct check import."""
+
+    def fake_which(command: str) -> str | None:
+        if command == "curl":
+            return None
+        return f"/usr/bin/{command}"
+
+    stderr = StringIO()
+    with patch("shutil.which", side_effect=fake_which):
+        call_command("check", "-t", "compatibility", stderr=stderr)
+
+    output = stderr.getvalue()
+    assert "(tussilago.W001) Missing host commands used by get_rootfs.bash." in output
+    assert "Dev-only tooling missing: curl." in output
+
+
+@override_settings(DEBUG=False, TESTING=False)
+def test_dev_command_check_is_not_reported_in_production_runtime() -> None:
+    """Production runtime must not report dev-only tooling warning."""
+    stderr = StringIO()
+    with patch("shutil.which", return_value=None):
+        call_command("check", "-t", "compatibility", stderr=stderr)
+
+    assert "(tussilago.W001)" not in stderr.getvalue()