diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index d681636..9602e3a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -157,6 +157,18 @@ config-pymc.ini
 data/*
 !data/.gitkeep
 
+# Node.js / frontend test framework artifacts
+node_modules/
+npm-debug.log*
+yarn-debug.log*
+yarn-error.log*
+.npm
+package-lock.json
+# keep package.json, .eslintrc.json, .htmlhintrc (committed)
+
+# .deb build artifacts
+dist/deb-build/
+
 # Local user plugins and config (keep README and .gitkeep only)
 local/config.ini
 local/commands/*
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5432f89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+# Makefile for meshcore-bot
+# Usage:
+#   make install   — install runtime + optional dependencies into a venv
+#   make dev       — install everything needed for development (tests, lint)
+#   make test      — run pytest with coverage
+#   make lint      — run ruff check + mypy
+#   make fix       — auto-fix ruff lint errors
+#   make deb       — build a .deb package (requires fakeroot + dpkg-deb)
+#   make config    — launch the interactive ncurses config editor
+#   make clean     — remove venv and build artefacts
+
+PYTHON  ?= python3
+VENV    := .venv
+PIP     := $(VENV)/bin/pip
+PYTEST  := $(VENV)/bin/pytest
+RUFF    := $(VENV)/bin/ruff
+MYPY    := $(VENV)/bin/mypy
+
+.PHONY: all install dev test test-no-cov lint fix deb config clean
+
+all: dev
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Environment setup
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+$(VENV)/bin/python:
+	$(PYTHON) -m venv $(VENV)
+	$(PIP) install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel
+
+install: $(VENV)/bin/python
+	$(PIP) install -e ".[profanity,geo]"
+
+dev: $(VENV)/bin/python
+	$(PIP) install -e ".[profanity,geo,test]"
+	$(PIP) install ruff mypy
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Testing
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+test: $(VENV)/bin/python
+	$(PYTEST) tests/ -v --tb=short
+
+# Run tests without the coverage threshold (useful during initial development)
+test-no-cov: $(VENV)/bin/python
+	$(PYTEST) tests/ -v --tb=short --no-cov
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Linting
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+lint: $(VENV)/bin/python
+	$(RUFF) check modules/ tests/
+	$(MYPY) modules/
+
+fix: $(VENV)/bin/python
+	$(RUFF) check --fix modules/ tests/
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Packaging
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# Build a .deb package.  Pass VERSION= to override the version from pyproject.toml.
+# Requires: fakeroot, dpkg-deb  (sudo apt install fakeroot)
+deb:
+	bash scripts/build-deb.sh $(VERSION)
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Configuration
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# Launch the interactive ncurses config editor.
+# Pass CONFIG= to open a specific config file (default: config.ini).
+config: $(VENV)/bin/python
+	$(VENV)/bin/python scripts/config_tui.py $(CONFIG)
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Housekeeping
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+clean:
+	rm -rf $(VENV) build dist/*.egg-info .mypy_cache .ruff_cache __pycache__ .pytest_cache
+	rm -rf dist/deb-build
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index e1c7bf0..11b25f4 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -4,20 +4,18 @@ asyncio-mqtt>=0.11.0
 paho-mqtt>=1.6.0
 configparser>=5.3.0
 python-dateutil>=2.8.2
-schedule>=1.2.0
+apscheduler>=3.10.0
 colorlog>=6.7.0
 requests>=2.31.0
 urllib3>=2.0.0
 pyephem>=4.1.4
 geopy>=2.3.0
 maidenhead>=1.4.0
-# Optional but recommended for improved geocoding accuracy:
-# pycountry>=23.12.0  # Country name validation and normalization
-# us>=2.0.0  # US state name/abbreviation handling
 pytz>=2023.3
 aiohttp>=3.8.0
 cryptography>=41.0.0
 pynacl>=1.5.0
+aiosqlite>=0.19.0
 meshcore>=2.2.31
 openmeteo-requests>=1.7.2
 requests-cache>=1.1.1
@@ -26,12 +24,18 @@ flask>=2.3.0
 flask-socketio>=5.3.0
 meshcore-cli
 feedparser>=6.0.10
-# Discord/Telegram bridge profanity filter (drop or censor mode)
-better-profanity>=0.7.0
-unidecode>=1.3.0  # Unicode-to-ASCII normalization so homoglyph slurs are caught
+
+# Optional: profanity filtering (pip install meshcore-bot[profanity])
+# better-profanity>=0.7.0
+# unidecode>=1.3.0
+
+# Optional: improved geocoding accuracy (pip install meshcore-bot[geo])
+# pycountry>=23.12.0
+# us>=2.0.0
 
 # Testing dependencies
 pytest>=7.0.0
 pytest-asyncio>=0.21.0
 pytest-mock>=3.10.0
 pytest-cov>=4.0.0
+pytest-timeout>=2.1.0