diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 689fd49..ae22861 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@ dependencies {
     testImplementation 'io.rest-assured:rest-assured'
     compileOnly 'org.projectlombok:lombok:1.18.32'
     annotationProcessor 'org.projectlombok:lombok:1.18.32'
+    implementation ('com.rethinkdb:rethinkdb-driver:2.4.4') {
+        exclude group: 'com.fasterxml.jackson.core', module: 'jackson-databind' // exclude older jackson-databind version
+    }
+    implementation 'com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-databind:2.17.1' // Manually add newer jackson-databind version without CVE
 }
 
 group 'de.w665'
diff --git a/db/docker-compose.yml b/db/docker-compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d6407f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/docker-compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+version: '3.8'
+services:
+  rethinkdb:
+    image: rethinkdb:latest
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    volumes:
+      - rethinkdb_data:/data
+    ports:
+      - "28015:28015" # Client driver port
+      - "8080:8080"   # Admin UI port
+
+volumes:
+  rethinkdb_data:
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/w665/fluidcms/db/RethinkDBConfig.java b/src/main/java/de/w665/fluidcms/db/RethinkDBConfig.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d882711
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/de/w665/fluidcms/db/RethinkDBConfig.java
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+package de.w665.fluidcms.db;
+
+import jakarta.inject.Singleton;
+import lombok.Getter;
+import lombok.Setter;
+import org.eclipse.microprofile.config.inject.ConfigProperty;
+
+@Getter
+@Setter
+@Singleton
+public class RethinkDBConfig {
+    @ConfigProperty(name = "fluidcms.database.host")
+    String host;
+
+    @ConfigProperty(name = "fluidcms.database.port")
+    int port;
+
+    @ConfigProperty(name = "fluidcms.database.name")
+    String database;
+
+    @ConfigProperty(name = "fluidcms.database.autoresetonstartup")
+    boolean autoresetonstartup;
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/w665/fluidcms/db/RethinkDBConnector.java b/src/main/java/de/w665/fluidcms/db/RethinkDBConnector.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7af6086
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/de/w665/fluidcms/db/RethinkDBConnector.java
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+package de.w665.fluidcms.db;
+
+import com.rethinkdb.RethinkDB;
+import com.rethinkdb.net.Connection;
+import jakarta.annotation.PostConstruct;
+import jakarta.annotation.PreDestroy;
+import jakarta.inject.Inject;
+import jakarta.inject.Singleton;
+import lombok.Getter;
+import lombok.RequiredArgsConstructor;
+import lombok.extern.slf4j.Slf4j;
+
+@Slf4j
+@Singleton
+@RequiredArgsConstructor
+@Getter
+public class RethinkDBConnector {
+
+    @Inject
+    RethinkDBConfig config;
+
+    private final RethinkDB r = RethinkDB.r;
+    private Connection connection;
+
+    @PostConstruct
+    public void connectToDatabase() {
+        connection = r.connection().hostname(config.getHost()).port(config.getPort()).connect();
+        log.info("Connected to RethinkDB at " + config.getHost() + ":" + config.getPort() + " on database " + config.getDatabase());
+    }
+
+    @PreDestroy
+    public void closeConnection() {
+        if (connection != null) {
+            connection.close();
+        }
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/w665/fluidcms/db/RethinkDBService.java b/src/main/java/de/w665/fluidcms/db/RethinkDBService.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d21760c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/de/w665/fluidcms/db/RethinkDBService.java
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+package de.w665.fluidcms.db;
+
+import com.rethinkdb.RethinkDB;
+import com.rethinkdb.gen.exc.ReqlOpFailedError;
+import com.rethinkdb.net.Connection;
+import io.quarkus.runtime.Startup;
+import jakarta.inject.Inject;
+import jakarta.inject.Singleton;
+import lombok.extern.slf4j.Slf4j;
+
+@Slf4j
+@Singleton
+public class RethinkDBService {
+
+    @Inject
+    RethinkDBConfig config;
+
+    @Inject
+    RethinkDBConnector connector;
+
+    private Connection connection;
+    private RethinkDB r;
+
+    @Startup
+    public void init() {
+        this.r = connector.getR();
+        this.connection = connector.getConnection();
+        initialize();
+    }
+
+    public void initialize() {
+
+        log.debug("Initializing RethinkDB database...");
+        // rethinkdb check if database exists
+        try {
+            r.dbCreate(config.getDatabase()).run(connection).stream();
+            log.debug("Database " + config.getDatabase() + " created");
+        } catch (ReqlOpFailedError e) {
+            log.debug("Database " + config.getDatabase() + " already exists. Error: " + e.getClass().getSimpleName());
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/w665/fluidcms/db/repo/TestRepo.java b/src/main/java/de/w665/fluidcms/db/repo/TestRepo.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4c4446b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/de/w665/fluidcms/db/repo/TestRepo.java
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+package de.w665.fluidcms.db.repo;
+
+import com.rethinkdb.RethinkDB;
+import com.rethinkdb.net.Connection;
+import de.w665.fluidcms.db.RethinkDBConfig;
+import de.w665.fluidcms.db.RethinkDBConnector;
+import jakarta.annotation.PostConstruct;
+import jakarta.enterprise.context.ApplicationScoped;
+import jakarta.inject.Inject;
+import lombok.extern.slf4j.Slf4j;
+
+@Slf4j
+@ApplicationScoped
+public class TestRepo {
+
+    @Inject
+    RethinkDBConnector connector;
+
+    @Inject
+    RethinkDBConfig config;
+
+    private final String TABLE_NAME = "test";
+    private RethinkDB r;
+    private Connection connection;
+
+    @PostConstruct
+    public void init() {
+        this.r = this.connector.getR();
+        this.connection = this.connector.getConnection();
+
+        // Check if table exists
+        try {
+            r.db(config.getDatabase()).tableCreate(TABLE_NAME).run(connection);
+            log.debug("Table " + TABLE_NAME + " created");
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            log.debug("Table " + TABLE_NAME + " already exists");
+        }
+    }
+
+    public void insert(String value) {
+        r.db(config.getDatabase()).table(TABLE_NAME).insert(r.hashMap("value", value)).run(connection);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/w665/fluidcms/rest/mapping/TestResource.java b/src/main/java/de/w665/fluidcms/rest/mapping/TestResource.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a6b427a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/de/w665/fluidcms/rest/mapping/TestResource.java
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+package de.w665.fluidcms.rest.mapping;
+
+import de.w665.fluidcms.db.repo.TestRepo;
+import jakarta.inject.Inject;
+import jakarta.ws.rs.GET;
+import jakarta.ws.rs.Path;
+import jakarta.ws.rs.Produces;
+import jakarta.ws.rs.core.MediaType;
+import org.jboss.resteasy.reactive.RestResponse;
+
+@Path("/test")
+public class TestResource {
+
+    @Inject
+    TestRepo testRepo;
+
+    @GET
+    @Produces(MediaType.TEXT_PLAIN)
+    public RestResponse<String> test() {
+        testRepo.insert("testString");
+        return RestResponse.ResponseBuilder.ok("Inserted testString into db.").build();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/resources/application.properties b/src/main/resources/application.properties
index e6bb50d..42b7e7d 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/application.properties
+++ b/src/main/resources/application.properties
@@ -1,2 +1,11 @@
 quarkus.quinoa.dev-server.port=4200
-quarkus.quinoa.build-dir=dist
\ No newline at end of file
+quarkus.quinoa.build-dir=dist
+quarkus.http.port=80
+quarkus.resteasy-reactive.path=/api/v1
+quarkus.log.category."de.w665.fluidcms".level=DEBUG
+
+# Database
+fluidcms.database.host=localhost
+fluidcms.database.port=28015
+fluidcms.database.name=fluidcms
+fluidcms.database.autoresetonstartup=false
\ No newline at end of file