diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 90ee18d1..ff7ed9ea 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1763,7 +1763,10 @@ dependencies = [
 name = "server"
 version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
+ "proto-codegen",
  "service",
+ "tokio",
+ "tonic",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -1802,6 +1805,15 @@ version = "1.3.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "0fda2ff0d084019ba4d7c6f371c95d8fd75ce3524c3cb8fb653a3023f6323e64"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "signal-hook-registry"
+version = "1.4.5"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "9203b8055f63a2a00e2f593bb0510367fe707d7ff1e5c872de2f537b339e5410"
+dependencies = [
+ "libc",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "signature"
 version = "2.2.0"
@@ -2212,7 +2224,9 @@ dependencies = [
  "bytes",
  "libc",
  "mio",
+ "parking_lot",
  "pin-project-lite",
+ "signal-hook-registry",
  "socket2",
  "tokio-macros",
  "windows-sys 0.52.0",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index b1d8ef9b..0e9dbed7 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,3 +1,21 @@
 [workspace]
 resolver = "3"
 members = ["client", "proto-codegen", "server", "service", "stresstest"]
+default-members = ["server"]
+
+[profile.dev]
+# Debug information slows down the build and increases caches in the
+# target folder, but we don't require stack traces in most cases.
+debug = false
+
+[profile.dev-debug]
+# A version of the dev profile with debug information enabled, for e.g. local
+# debugging.
+inherits = "dev"
+debug = true
+
+[profile.release]
+# In release, however, we do want full debug information to report
+# panic and error stack traces to Sentry.
+debug = true
+lto = "thin"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0658d7db..05b5da09 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -10,3 +10,19 @@ It currently contains the following pieces:
   as well as external clients.
 - `service`: The core blob storage primitives.
 - `stresstest`: A stresstest binary that can run various workloads against a storage backend.
+
+## Development
+
+Ensure `protoc` and the latest stable Rust toolchain are installed on your machine. Then, run the server with:
+
+```sh
+cargo run
+```
+
+To run tests:
+
+```sh
+cargo test --workspace --all-features
+```
+
+We recommend using Rust Analyzer and clippy.
diff --git a/server/Cargo.toml b/server/Cargo.toml
index a6a9aa53..14d903e0 100644
--- a/server/Cargo.toml
+++ b/server/Cargo.toml
@@ -4,4 +4,7 @@ version = "0.1.0"
 edition = "2024"
 
 [dependencies]
+tokio = { version = "1.45.1", features = ["full"] }
+tonic = { version = "0.13.1" }
+proto-codegen = { path = "../proto-codegen" }
 service = { path = "../service" }
diff --git a/server/src/main.rs b/server/src/main.rs
index f5837188..4557a2f2 100644
--- a/server/src/main.rs
+++ b/server/src/main.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,47 @@
 //! storage layer as both a `gRPC` service for use by the `client`, as well as
 //! an `HTTP` layer which can serve files directly to *external clients*.
 
-fn main() {
-    println!("Hello, world!");
+use proto_codegen::storage::{AllocateBlobRequest, AllocateBlobResponse, StorageId};
+use tonic::{Request, Response, Status, transport::Server};
+
+use proto_codegen::storage::storage_server::{Storage, StorageServer};
+
+#[derive(Default)]
+pub struct MockStorage {}
+
+#[tonic::async_trait]
+impl Storage for MockStorage {
+    async fn put_blob(
+        &self,
+        request: Request<AllocateBlobRequest>,
+    ) -> Result<Response<AllocateBlobResponse>, Status> {
+        // Here you would handle the blob upload logic.
+        println!("Received a blob upload request: {:?}", request);
+
+        let storage_id = StorageId {
+            id: "usecase/4711.0001".to_owned().into_bytes(),
+        };
+
+        let response = AllocateBlobResponse {
+            id: Some(storage_id),
+            signed_put_url: "https://localhost:5000/mocked-upload".to_owned(),
+        };
+
+        Ok(Response::new(response))
+    }
+}
+
+#[tokio::main]
+async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
+    let addr = "0.0.0.0:50051".parse().unwrap();
+    let greeter = MockStorage::default();
+
+    println!("Server listening on {addr}");
+
+    Server::builder()
+        .add_service(StorageServer::new(greeter))
+        .serve(addr)
+        .await?;
+
+    Ok(())
 }