diff --git a/.github/actions/terraform-deploy-sm2a/action.yml b/.github/actions/terraform-deploy-sm2a/action.yml
index 59f53ab..4f146a9 100644
--- a/.github/actions/terraform-deploy-sm2a/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/terraform-deploy-sm2a/action.yml
@@ -33,20 +33,6 @@ runs:
         python-version: "3.11"
         cache: "pip"
 
-    - name: Install python dependencies
-      shell: bash
-      working-directory: ${{ inputs.dir }}
-      run: pip install -r ../deploy_requirements.txt
-
-    - name: Get relevant environment configuration from aws secrets
-      shell: bash
-      working-directory: ${{ inputs.dir }}
-      env:
-        AWS_DEFAULT_REGION: ${{ inputs.aws-region }}
-        AWS_REGION: ${{ inputs.aws-region }}
-      run: |
-        python scripts/generate_env_file.py --secret-id ${{ inputs.env_aws_secret_name }} --env-file ${{ inputs.env-file }}
-
     - name: Setup Terraform
       uses: hashicorp/setup-terraform@v1
       with:
@@ -54,14 +40,11 @@ runs:
 
     - name: Deploy
       shell: bash
-      working-directory: ${{ inputs.dir }}
       env:
         AWS_DEFAULT_REGION: ${{ inputs.aws-region }}
         AWS_REGION: ${{ inputs.aws-region }}
       run: |
-        cp -r ../dags .
-        ./scripts/deploy.sh ${{ inputs.env-file }} <<< init
-        ./scripts/deploy.sh ${{ inputs.env-file }} <<< deploy
+        make sm2a-deploy ENV_FILE=${{ inputs.env-file }} SECRET_NAME=${{ inputs.env_aws_secret_name }}
 
     - name: Output workflows API endpoint
       id: output_sm2a_workflows_endpoint
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 547284f..cc646d8 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -44,6 +44,5 @@ cdk.context.json
 env.sh
 
 .hypothesis
-Makefile
 .env_sit
 terraform.tfstate
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..55d2c02
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+SECRET_NAME=""
+ENV_FILE=".env"
+SM2A_FOLDER="sm2a"
+
+CHDIR_SHELL := $(SHELL)
+define chdir
+   $(eval _D=$(firstword $(1) $(@D)))
+   $(info $(MAKE): cd $(_D)) $(eval SHELL = cd $(_D); $(CHDIR_SHELL))
+endef
+
+
+important_message = \
+	@echo "\033[0;31m$(1) \033[0m"
+
+info_message = \
+	@echo "\033[0;32m$(1) \033[0m"
+
+
+count_down = \
+	@echo "Spinning up the system please wait..."; \
+	secs=40 ;\
+	while [ $$secs -gt 0 ]; do \
+		printf "%d\033[0K\r" $$secs; \
+		sleep 1; \
+		: $$((secs--)); \
+	done;
+
+
+.PHONY:
+	clean
+	all
+	test
+
+
+all: switch-to-sm2a sm2a-local-init sm2a-local-run
+
+test:
+	pytest tests
+
+switch-to-sm2a:
+	$(call chdir,${SM2A_FOLDER})
+
+sm2a-local-run: switch-to-sm2a sm2a-local-stop sm2a-cp-dags
+	@echo "Running SM2A"
+	docker compose up -d
+	$(call important_message, "Give the resources a minute to be healthy 💪")
+	$(count_down)
+	$(call info_message, "Please visit http://localhost:8080")
+	echo "username:airflow | password:airflow"
+	echo "To use local SM2A with AWS update ${SM2A_FOLDER}/sm2a-local-config/.env AWS credentials"
+
+sm2a-local-init: switch-to-sm2a sm2a-cp-dags
+	cp sm2a-local-config/env_example sm2a-local-config/.env
+	docker compose run --rm airflow-cli db init
+	docker compose run --rm airflow-cli users create --email airflow@example.com --firstname airflow --lastname airflow --password airflow --username airflow --role Admin
+
+sm2a-local-stop: switch-to-sm2a
+	docker compose down
+
+sm2a-cp-dags:
+	cp -r ../dags dags
+
+sm2a-deploy: switch-to-sm2a sm2a-cp-dags
+	@echo "Installing the deployment dependency"
+	pip install -r deploy_requirements.txt
+	echo "Deploying SM2A"
+	python scripts/generate_env_file.py --secret-id ${SECRET_NAME} --env-file ${ENV_FILE}
+	./scripts/deploy.sh ${ENV_FILE} <<< init
+	./scripts/deploy.sh ${ENV_FILE} <<< deploy
+
+clean: switch-to-sm2a sm2a-local-stop
+	@echo "Cleaning local env"
+	docker container prune -f
+	docker image prune -f
+	docker volume prune -f
+
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f2654a8..3f9857b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -35,6 +35,35 @@ See [terraform-getting-started](https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/tutori
 
 See [getting-started-install](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/getting-started-install.html)
 
+
+
+### Setup a local SM2A development environment
+
+1. Initialize the metadata db
+
+```shell
+make sm2a-local-init
+```
+🚨 NOTE: This command is typically required only once at the beginning. 
+After running it, you generally do not need to run it again unless you run `make clean`,
+which will require you to reinitialize SM2A with `make sm2a-local-init`
+
+This will create an airflow username: `airflow` with password `airflow`
+
+2. Start all services
+
+```shell
+make sm2a-local-run
+```
+This will start SM2A services and will be running on http://localhost:8080
+
+3. Stop all services
+
+```shell
+make sm2a-local-stop
+```
+
+
 ## Deployment
 
 This project uses Terraform modules to deploy Apache Airflow and related AWS resources using Amazon's managed Airflow provider.