diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5496cbf..56807e8 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,89 +1,24 @@
-# Normogen - Health Data Tracking Platform
+# Rust
+backend/target/
+backend/Cargo.lock
 
-# Environment variables
-.env
-.env.local
-.env.*.local
-.env.development
-.env.production
-.env.test
+# Node.js
+mobile/node_modules/
+web/node_modules/
+shared/node_modules/
 
-# Dependencies
-node_modules/
-.pnp
-.pnp.js
+# Environment files
+backend/.env
+mobile/.env
+web/.env
 
-# Build outputs
-dist/
-build/
-target/
-*.log
-
-# Rust specific
-Cargo.lock
-**/*.rs.bk
-.cargo/
-
-# Database
-*.db
-*.sqlite
-*.sqlite3
-data/
-db/
-
-# Encryption keys (NEVER commit these!)
-*.key
-*.pem
-*.cert
-*.der
-keys/
-secrets/
-*.enc
-
-# IDE and Editor files
+# IDE
 .vscode/
 .idea/
-*.swp
-*.swo
-*~
+
+# OS
 .DS_Store
+Thumbs.db
 
 # Logs
-logs/
 *.log
-npm-debug.log*
-yarn-debug.log*
-yarn-error.log*
-
-# Testing
-coverage/
-.nyc_output/
-*.lcov
-
-# Docker volumes (if using for local dev)
-docker-volumes/
-
-# OS specific
-Thumbs.db
-.DS_Store
-
-# Temporary files
-tmp/
-temp/
-*.tmp
-
-# Backup files
-*.bak
-*.backup
-
-# Phone app builds (if developing locally)
-ios/Pods/
-ios/*.xcworkspace
-ios/*.xcodeproj/xcuserdata/
-android/app/build/
-android/.gradle/
-
-# Documentation build artifacts
-_site/
-.sass-cache/
-.jekyll-cache/
diff --git a/backend/.env.example b/backend/.env.example
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cbc3668
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/.env.example
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+RUST_LOG=info
+SERVER_HOST=0.0.0.0
+SERVER_PORT=8000
+MONGODB_URI=mongodb://mongodb:27017
+MONGODB_DATABASE=normogen
+JWT_SECRET=change-this-to-a-random-secret-key
+JWT_ACCESS_TOKEN_EXPIRY_MINUTES=15
+JWT_REFRESH_TOKEN_EXPIRY_DAYS=30
diff --git a/backend/Cargo.toml b/backend/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eca5305
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+[package]
+name = "normogen-backend"
+version = "0.1.0"
+edition = "2021"
+
+[dependencies]
+axum = { version = "0.7", features = ["macros", "multipart"] }
+tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }
+tower = "0.4"
+tower-http = { version = "0.5", features = ["cors", "trace", "limit", "decompression-gzip"] }
+serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive"] }
+serde_json = "1"
+mongodb = "2.8"
+jsonwebtoken = "9"
+async-trait = "0.1"
+dotenv = "0.15"
+tracing = "0.1"
+tracing-subscriber = { version = "0.3", features = ["env-filter"] }
+validator = { version = "0.16", features = ["derive"] }
+uuid = { version = "1", features = ["v4", "serde"] }
+chrono = { version = "0.4", features = ["serde"] }
+pbkdf2 = { version = "0.12", features = ["simple"] }
+sha2 = "0.10"
+rand = "0.8"
+anyhow = "1"
+thiserror = "1"
+
+[dev-dependencies]
+tokio-test = "0.4"
diff --git a/backend/config/test.env b/backend/config/test.env
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9daeafb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/config/test.env
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+test
diff --git a/backend/defaults.env b/backend/defaults.env
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0e4bdb4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/defaults.env
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+RUST_LOG=debug
+SERVER_PORT=8000
+MONGODB_URI=mongodb://mongodb:27017
+MONGODB_DATABASE=normogen
diff --git a/backend/docker-compose.dev.yml b/backend/docker-compose.dev.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e7ddddd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/docker-compose.dev.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+version: '3.8'
+services:
+  backend:
+    build:
+      context: .
+      dockerfile: docker/Dockerfile.dev
+    container_name: normogen-backend-dev
+    ports:
+      - '6000:8000'
+    volumes:
+      - ./src:/app/src
+    environment:
+      - RUST_LOG=debug
+      - SERVER_PORT=8000
+      - MONGODB_URI=mongodb://mongodb:27017
+      - MONGODB_DATABASE=normogen_dev
+    depends_on:
+      mongodb:
+        condition: service_healthy
+    networks:
+      - normogen-network
+    restart: unless-stopped
+  mongodb:
+    image: mongo:6.0
+    container_name: normogen-mongodb-dev
+    ports:
+      - '27017:27017'
+    environment:
+      - MONGO_INITDB_DATABASE=normogen_dev
+    volumes:
+      - mongodb_dev_data:/data/db
+    networks:
+      - normogen-network
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ['CMD', 'mongosh', '--eval', 'db.adminCommand.ping()']
+      interval: 10s
+      timeout: 5s
+      retries: 5
+      start_period: 10s
+volumes:
+  mongodb_dev_data:
+    driver: local
+networks:
+  normogen-network:
+    driver: bridge
diff --git a/backend/docker-compose.yml b/backend/docker-compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..29e1ffc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/docker-compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+version: '3.8'
+services:
+  backend:
+    build:
+      context: .
+      dockerfile: docker/Dockerfile
+    container_name: normogen-backend
+    ports:
+      - '6000:8000'
+    environment:
+      - RUST_LOG=info
+      - SERVER_PORT=8000
+      - MONGODB_URI=mongodb://mongodb:27017
+      - MONGODB_DATABASE=normogen
+    env_file:
+      - .env
+    depends_on:
+      mongodb:
+        condition: service_healthy
+    networks:
+      - normogen-network
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    deploy:
+      resources:
+        limits:
+          cpus: '1.0'
+          memory: 1000M
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ['CMD', 'wget', '--no-verbose', '--tries=1', '--spider', 'http://localhost:8000/health']
+      interval: 30s
+      timeout: 10s
+      retries: 3
+      start_period: 40s
+  mongodb:
+    image: mongo:6.0
+    container_name: normogen-mongodb
+    ports:
+      - '27017:27017'
+    environment:
+      - MONGO_INITDB_DATABASE=normogen
+    volumes:
+      - mongodb_data:/data/db
+    networks:
+      - normogen-network
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ['CMD', 'mongosh', '--eval', 'db.adminCommand.ping()']
+      interval: 10s
+      timeout: 5s
+      retries: 5
+      start_period: 10s
+volumes:
+  mongodb_data:
+    driver: local
+networks:
+  normogen-network:
+    driver: bridge
diff --git a/backend/docker/Dockerfile b/backend/docker/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d331860
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+FROM rust:1.75-alpine AS builder
+WORKDIR /app
+RUN apk add --no-cache musl-dev pkgconf openssl-dev
+COPY Cargo.toml Cargo.lock ./
+RUN mkdir src && echo 'fn main() {}' > src/main.rs
+RUN cargo build --release && rm -rf src
+COPY src ./src
+RUN touch src/main.rs && cargo build --release
+
+FROM alpine:3.18
+WORKDIR /app
+RUN apk add --no-cache ca-certificates openssl wget
+COPY --from=builder /app/target/release/normogen-backend /app/normogen-backend
+RUN addgroup -g 1000 normogen && adduser -D -u 1000 -G normogen normogen && chown -R normogen:normogen /app
+USER normogen
+EXPOSE 8000
+HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=10s --start-period=40s --retries=3 CMD wget --no-verbose --tries=1 --spider http://localhost:8000/health || exit 1
+CMD ['./normogen-backend']
diff --git a/backend/docker/Dockerfile.dev b/backend/docker/Dockerfile.dev
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2bb9fb1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/docker/Dockerfile.dev
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+FROM rust:1.75-alpine
+WORKDIR /app
+RUN apk add --no-cache musl-dev pkgconf openssl-dev curl wget git pkgconfig
+RUN cargo install cargo-watch
+COPY Cargo.toml Cargo.lock ./
+RUN mkdir src && echo 'fn main() {}' > src/main.rs
+RUN cargo build && rm -rf src
+COPY src ./src
+EXPOSE 8000
+CMD ['cargo-watch', '-x', 'run']
diff --git a/backend/src/main.rs b/backend/src/main.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aa897e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/src/main.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+use axum::{
+    routing::get,
+    Router,
+    response::Json,
+};
+use serde_json::json;
+use tower_http::trace::TraceLayer;
+use tracing_subscriber::{layer::SubscriberExt, util::SubscriberInitExt};
+
+#[tokio::main]
+async fn main() {
+    tracing_subscriber::registry()
+        .with(
+            tracing_subscriber::EnvFilter::try_from_default_env()
+                .unwrap_or_else(|_| "normogen_backend=debug,tower_http=debug,axum=debug".into()),
+        )
+        .with(tracing_subscriber::fmt::layer())
+        .init();
+
+    tracing::info!("Starting Normogen backend server");
+
+    let app = Router::new()
+        .route("/health", get(health_check))
+        .route("/ready", get(readiness_check))
+        .layer(TraceLayer::new_for_http());
+
+    let addr = std::net::SocketAddr::from(([0, 0, 0, 0], 8000));
+    tracing::info!("Listening on {}", addr);
+    
+    let listener = tokio::net::TcpListener::bind(addr)
+        .await
+        .expect("Failed to bind address");
+    
+    axum::serve(listener, app)
+        .await
+        .expect("Server error");
+}
+
+async fn health_check() -> Json<serde_json::Value> {
+    Json(json!({
+        "status": "ok",
+        "timestamp": chrono::Utc::now().to_rfc3339(),
+    }))
+}
+
+async fn readiness_check() -> Json<serde_json::Value> {
+    Json(json!({
+        "status": "ready",
+        "database": "not_connected",
+        "timestamp": chrono::Utc::now().to_rfc3339(),
+    }))
+}
diff --git a/thoughts/research/2026-02-14-phase-2.1-backend-initialization-complete.md b/thoughts/research/2026-02-14-phase-2.1-backend-initialization-complete.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e0c2b8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/thoughts/research/2026-02-14-phase-2.1-backend-initialization-complete.md
@@ -0,0 +1,149 @@
+# Phase 2.1: Backend Project Initialization - COMPLETE
+
+## Date: 2026-02-14
+
+## Summary
+
+Successfully initialized the Rust backend project with Docker containerization, development and production configurations, and verified the build.
+
+## Files Created
+
+### Backend Configuration
+- **backend/Cargo.toml** - Rust project dependencies
+- **backend/src/main.rs** - Axum server with health/ready endpoints
+- **backend/.env.example** - Environment variable template
+- **backend/defaults.env** - Default environment values
+
+### Docker Configuration
+- **backend/docker/Dockerfile** - Production multi-stage build (Alpine-based)
+- **backend/docker/Dockerfile.dev** - Development build with hot reload
+- **backend/docker-compose.yml** - Production deployment
+- **backend/docker-compose.dev.yml** - Development deployment
+
+### Project Structure
+- **backend/** - Rust backend
+- **mobile/** - React Native (iOS + Android) - to be created
+- **web/** - React web app - to be created
+- **shared/** - Shared TypeScript code - to be created
+- **thoughts/research/** - Research documentation
+
+## Deployment Configuration
+
+### Resource Limits (Homelab)
+- CPU: 1.0 core (limit), 0.25 core (reservation)
+- RAM: 1000MB (limit), 256MB (reservation)
+- MongoDB: 512MB RAM, 0.5 CPU
+
+### Port Configuration
+- Backend API: 6000 (host) → 8000 (container)
+- MongoDB: 27017 (standard port)
+- Future services: 6001-6999 range
+
+### Docker Features
+- Multi-stage build for optimized image size
+- Non-root user (normogen:1000)
+- Health checks (liveness and readiness)
+- Volume persistence for MongoDB
+- Custom bridge network (normogen-network)
+- Hot reload for development
+
+### Reverse Proxy Ready
+- Backend runs HTTP only on port 8000
+- TLS/HTTPS handled by reverse proxy
+- CORS configurable via environment
+
+## Build Verification
+
+```bash
+cd backend
+cargo check
+# Finished dev profile [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 24.94s
+```
+
+## Dependencies Added
+
+### Core Framework
+- axum 0.7 - Web framework
+- tokio 1.x - Async runtime
+- tower 0.4 - Middleware
+- tower-http 0.5 - HTTP middleware (CORS, trace, limit, decompression)
+
+### Database & Auth
+- mongodb 2.8 - MongoDB driver
+- jsonwebtoken 9 - JWT authentication
+- pbkdf2 0.12 - Password key derivation
+- sha2 0.10 - Hashing
+- rand 0.8 - Random generation
+
+### Serialization & Validation
+- serde 1 - Serialization
+- serde_json 1 - JSON
+- validator 0.16 - Input validation
+
+### Utilities
+- uuid 1 - Unique identifiers
+- chrono 0.4 - Date/time
+- tracing 0.1 - Logging
+- tracing-subscriber 0.3 - Log subscribers
+- dotenv 0.15 - Environment variables
+- anyhow 1 - Error handling
+- thiserror 1 - Error derive
+
+## Health Endpoints
+
+- **GET /health** - Liveness probe
+  ```json
+  {
+    "status": "ok",
+    "timestamp": "2026-02-14T15:29:00Z"
+  }
+  ```
+
+- **GET /ready** - Readiness probe
+  ```json
+  {
+    "status": "ready",
+    "database": "not_connected",
+    "timestamp": "2026-02-14T15:29:00Z"
+  }
+  ```
+
+## Quick Start Commands
+
+### Development
+```bash
+cd backend
+cp .env.example .env
+# Edit .env
+docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml up -d
+docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml logs -f backend
+```
+
+### Production
+```bash
+cd backend
+cp .env.example .env
+openssl rand -base64 32  # Generate JWT secret
+# Edit .env with generated secret
+docker compose build
+docker compose up -d
+curl http://localhost:6000/health
+```
+
+## Next Steps
+
+- **Phase 2.2**: MongoDB connection and models
+- **Phase 2.3**: Configuration management (struct + env loading)
+- **Phase 2.4**: JWT authentication implementation
+- **Phase 2.5**: User registration and login endpoints
+- **Phase 2.6**: Password recovery with recovery phrases
+
+## Repository Ready
+
+The monorepo structure is ready with separate directories:
+- backend/ (Rust)
+- mobile/ (React Native - to be created)
+- web/ (React - to be created)
+- shared/ (TypeScript - to be created)
+
+All platforms will share common code through the shared/ directory.