diff --git a/src/backend/Cargo.toml b/src/backend/Cargo.toml
index a8530db..0a335df 100644
--- a/src/backend/Cargo.toml
+++ b/src/backend/Cargo.toml
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ rand_core = { version = "0.6", features = ["getrandom"] }
 regex = "1.12.2"
 serde = { version = "1.0.228", features = ["derive", "serde_derive"] }
 serde_json = "1.0.145"
+sqlx = { version = "0.8.6", features = ["runtime-tokio-rustls", "postgres", "uuid", "chrono", "migrate"] }
 tokio = { version = "1.48.0", features = ["macros", "rt-multi-thread"] }
 tower = { version = "0.5.2", features = ["tokio", "tracing"] }
 tower-http = { version = "0.6.7", features = ["cors"] }
diff --git a/src/backend/migrations/0001_init.sql b/src/backend/migrations/0001_init.sql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ac6280f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/migrations/0001_init.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+CREATE TABLE system_state (
+    id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY CHECK (id = 1),
+    initialized BOOLEAN NOT NULL DEFAULT false
+);
+
+INSERT INTO system_state (id, initialized) VALUES (1, true)
+ON CONFLICT (id) DO NOTHING;
diff --git a/src/backend/src/core/user_routines.rs b/src/backend/src/core/user_routines.rs
index ee819d5..4d98f09 100644
--- a/src/backend/src/core/user_routines.rs
+++ b/src/backend/src/core/user_routines.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,23 @@
+use crate::prelude::*;
 use std::sync::Arc;
 
-use crate::{domain::user::NewUser, state::AppState};
+use axum::http::StatusCode;
+use validator::Validate;
 
-pub async fn create(state: Arc<AppState>, new_user: NewUser) -> Result<User> {}
+use crate::{
+    domain::user::{InternalNewUser, NewUser, User},
+    state::AppState,
+};
+
+pub async fn create(state: Arc<AppState>, new_user: NewUser) -> Result<User, StatusCode> {
+    if let Err(_) = new_user.validate() {
+        return Err(StatusCode::BAD_REQUEST);
+    }
+
+    let internal = InternalNewUser::try_from(new_user).map_err(|e| {
+        error!("Conversion to InternalUser failed: {e}");
+        StatusCode::INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR
+    })?;
+
+    todo!("Hook up return once db setup ready");
+}
diff --git a/src/backend/src/infra/db/mod.rs b/src/backend/src/infra/db/mod.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5505eef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/src/infra/db/mod.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+use std::time::Duration;
+
+use sqlx::{PgPool, postgres::PgPoolOptions};
+
+use anyhow::Result;
+
+pub async fn connect(database_url: &str) -> Result<PgPool> {
+    let pool = PgPoolOptions::new()
+        .max_connections(10)
+        .acquire_timeout(Duration::from_secs(5))
+        .connect(database_url)
+        .await?;
+
+    Ok(pool)
+}
+
+pub async fn migrate(pool: &PgPool) -> Result<()> {
+    sqlx::migrate!().run(&pool).await?;
+    Ok(())
+}
diff --git a/src/backend/src/infra/mod.rs b/src/backend/src/infra/mod.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dec1023
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/src/infra/mod.rs
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+pub mod db;
diff --git a/src/backend/src/lib.rs b/src/backend/src/lib.rs
index 733250c..ed7e20b 100644
--- a/src/backend/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/backend/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 pub mod auth;
 pub mod core;
 pub mod domain;
+pub mod infra;
+pub mod prelude;
 pub mod router;
 pub mod state;
diff --git a/src/backend/src/prelude.rs b/src/backend/src/prelude.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c55b5c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/src/prelude.rs
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+pub use tracing::{debug, error, info, warn};
diff --git a/src/backend/src/router/user_routes.rs b/src/backend/src/router/user_routes.rs
index 62f17c1..66175ad 100644
--- a/src/backend/src/router/user_routes.rs
+++ b/src/backend/src/router/user_routes.rs
@@ -23,7 +23,5 @@ pub async fn create(
         StatusCode::INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR
     })?;
 
-    let user = User::from(internal);
-
-    Ok(Json(user))
+    todo!("Hook up return once db setup ready");
 }