diff --git a/.envrc b/.envrc
index 94a6067..160c112 100644
--- a/.envrc
+++ b/.envrc
@@ -1,11 +1,6 @@
 # Local development environment variables
 # To use: install direnv (https://direnv.net), then run `direnv allow`
 
-# Backend
-export SECRET_KEY="dev-secret-key-change-in-production"
-export DATABASE_URL="postgresql+asyncpg://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/arbret"
-export TEST_DATABASE_URL="postgresql+asyncpg://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/arbret_test"
-
-# Frontend
-export NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL="http://localhost:8000"
-
+set -a
+source .env
+set +a
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 67db7ed..d06cbfe 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
-.PHONY: install-backend install-frontend install backend frontend db db-stop db-ready dev test test-backend test-frontend test-e2e
+.PHONY: install-backend install-frontend install backend frontend db db-stop db-ready db-seed dev test test-backend test-frontend test-e2e
+
+-include .env
+export
 
 install-backend:
 	cd backend && uv sync --all-groups
@@ -30,8 +33,11 @@ db-ready:
 		docker compose exec -T db psql -U postgres -c "CREATE DATABASE arbret_test"
 	@echo "PostgreSQL is ready"
 
+db-seed: db-ready
+	cd backend && uv run python seed.py
+
 dev:
-	$(MAKE) db
+	$(MAKE) db-seed
 	cd backend && uv run uvicorn main:app --reload & \
 	cd frontend && npm run dev & \
 	wait
diff --git a/backend/seed.py b/backend/seed.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2bc2d6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/seed.py
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+"""Seed the database with a dev user."""
+import asyncio
+import os
+from sqlalchemy import select
+
+from database import engine, async_session, Base
+from models import User
+from auth import get_password_hash
+
+DEV_USER_EMAIL = os.environ["DEV_USER_EMAIL"]
+DEV_USER_PASSWORD = os.environ["DEV_USER_PASSWORD"]
+
+
+async def seed():
+    async with engine.begin() as conn:
+        await conn.run_sync(Base.metadata.create_all)
+
+    async with async_session() as db:
+        result = await db.execute(select(User).where(User.email == DEV_USER_EMAIL))
+        user = result.scalar_one_or_none()
+        
+        if user:
+            user.hashed_password = get_password_hash(DEV_USER_PASSWORD)
+            await db.commit()
+            print(f"Updated dev user: {DEV_USER_EMAIL} / {DEV_USER_PASSWORD}")
+        else:
+            user = User(
+                email=DEV_USER_EMAIL,
+                hashed_password=get_password_hash(DEV_USER_PASSWORD),
+            )
+            db.add(user)
+            await db.commit()
+            print(f"Created dev user: {DEV_USER_EMAIL} / {DEV_USER_PASSWORD}")
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    asyncio.run(seed())
+