diff --git a/src/backend/Cargo.toml b/src/backend/Cargo.toml
index 0aa2991..e731d39 100644
--- a/src/backend/Cargo.toml
+++ b/src/backend/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
 [package]
-name = "RustyMine-daemon"
+name = "rustymine-daemon"
 version = "0.1.0"
 edition = "2024"
 
 [dependencies]
+anyhow = "1.0.100"
+axum = "0.8.7"
+serde = "1.0.228"
+serde_json = "1.0.145"
+tokio = { version = "1.48.0", features = ["macros", "rt-multi-thread"] }
+tracing = { version = "0.1.43", features = ["max_level_debug"] }
+tracing-subscriber = "0.3.22"
diff --git a/src/backend/src/lib.rs b/src/backend/src/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fcddb5c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/src/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+pub mod router;
diff --git a/src/backend/src/main.rs b/src/backend/src/main.rs
index e7a11a9..32a54ac 100644
--- a/src/backend/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/backend/src/main.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,18 @@
-fn main() {
-    println!("Hello, world!");
+use anyhow::{Ok, Result};
+use rustymine_daemon::router;
+use tracing::Level;
+
+#[tokio::main]
+async fn main() -> Result<()> {
+    let subscriber = tracing_subscriber::fmt()
+        .with_max_level(Level::DEBUG)
+        .finish();
+
+    tracing::subscriber::set_global_default(subscriber)?;
+
+    let app_result = router::init_router().await?;
+
+    let listener = tokio::net::TcpListener::bind("0.0.0.0:3000").await.unwrap();
+    axum::serve(listener, app_result).await.unwrap();
+    Ok(())
 }
diff --git a/src/backend/src/router/middleware.rs b/src/backend/src/router/middleware.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..63b0b88
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/src/router/middleware.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+use axum::{extract::Request, middleware::Next, response::IntoResponse};
+use tracing::{debug, error, info, warn};
+
+pub async fn auth_middleware(request: Request, next: Next) -> impl IntoResponse {
+    debug!("auth_middleware entry");
+    let response = next.run(request).await;
+    debug!("auth_middleware exit");
+    response
+}
diff --git a/src/backend/src/router/mod.rs b/src/backend/src/router/mod.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e62a411
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/src/router/mod.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+pub mod middleware;
+use anyhow::Result;
+use axum::{Json, Router, http::StatusCode, middleware::from_fn, routing::get};
+use serde_json::{Value, json};
+
+pub async fn init_router() -> Result<Router> {
+    let router = Router::new().route(
+        "/api/ping",
+        get(ping).layer(from_fn(middleware::auth_middleware)),
+    );
+    Ok(router)
+}
+
+async fn ping() -> Result<Json<Value>, StatusCode> {
+    Ok(Json(json!({ "response": "pong"})))
+}