diff --git a/.env.dist b/.env.dist
index 4ee5ed69d..bf8f775c3 100644
--- a/.env.dist
+++ b/.env.dist
@@ -4,9 +4,12 @@ SQL_PASSWORD=
 SQL_HOST=
 AML_DEBUG=true
 DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=aml.development_settings
+DJANGO_SUPERUSER_USERNAME=admin # do not use in production!
+DJANGO_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD=admin # do not use in production!
+DJANGO_SUPERUSER_EMAIL=mail@example.com # do not use in production!
 AML_LOCATION_PROVIDER=http://ip2country:8854
 REACT_APP_API_ROOT=http://localhost:8000
-REACT_APP_EXPERIMENT_SLUG=
+REACT_APP_EXPERIMENT_SLUG=gold-msi
 REACT_APP_AML_HOME=https://www.amsterdammusiclab.nl
 REACT_APP_LOGO_URL=
 REACT_APP_HTML_PAGE_TITLE=Amsterdam Music Lab Experiment
diff --git a/backend/experiment/management/commands/bootstrap.py b/backend/experiment/management/commands/bootstrap.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3e340bd90
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/experiment/management/commands/bootstrap.py
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+from django.core import management
+from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand
+from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+
+from experiment.models import Experiment
+from section.models import Playlist
+
+class Command(BaseCommand):
+    """ Command for creating a superuser and an experiment if they do not yet exist """
+
+    def handle(self, *args, **options):
+        if User.objects.count() == 0:
+            management.call_command('createsuperuser', '--no-input')
+            logger.info('Created superuser')
+        if Experiment.objects.count() == 0:
+            playlist = Playlist.objects.create(
+                name='Empty Playlist'
+            )
+            experiment = Experiment.objects.create(
+                name='Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index',
+                rules='GOLD_MSI',
+                slug='gold-msi',
+            )
+            experiment.playlists.add(playlist)
+            print('Created default experiment')
+
diff --git a/backend/manage.py b/backend/manage.py
index 2a997e7fc..041efeacc 100755
--- a/backend/manage.py
+++ b/backend/manage.py
@@ -1,10 +1,8 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 """Django's command-line utility for administrative tasks."""
-import os
 import sys
 from os.path import join, dirname
 from dotenv import load_dotenv
-from pathlib import Path
 
 def main():
     env_path = join(dirname(__file__), '.env')
diff --git a/docker-compose.yaml b/docker-compose.yaml
index ba7319826..03f2b3ed3 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yaml
+++ b/docker-compose.yaml
@@ -42,6 +42,9 @@ services:
         environment:
           - AML_DEBUG=${AML_DEBUG}
           - DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=${DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE}
+          - DJANGO_SUPERUSER_USERNAME=${DJANGO_SUPERUSER_USERNAME}
+          - DJANGO_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD=${DJANGO_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD}
+          - DJANGO_SUPERUSER_EMAIL=${DJANGO_SUPERUSER_EMAIL}
           - AML_LOCATION_PROVIDER=${AML_LOCATION_PROVIDER}
           - SQL_DATABASE=${SQL_DATABASE}
           - SQL_USER=${SQL_USER}
@@ -49,7 +52,7 @@ services:
           - SQL_HOST=${SQL_HOST}
         ports:
           - 8000:8000
-        command: bash -c "python manage.py migrate && python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000"
+        command: bash -c "python manage.py migrate && python manage.py bootstrap && python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000"
     client:
         build:
           context: ./frontend