diff --git a/backend/.dockerignore b/backend/.dockerignore
index 80b0b8c..a375c52 100644
--- a/backend/.dockerignore
+++ b/backend/.dockerignore
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 venv
 migrations
+zapp.db
 
diff --git a/backend/Dockerfile b/backend/Dockerfile
index fdeff17..2145c54 100755
--- a/backend/Dockerfile
+++ b/backend/Dockerfile
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
 # syntax=docker/dockerfile:1.4
 FROM python:3-slim-bookworm AS builder
 
-RUN apt update && apt install -y libmariadb-dev gcc
+# Second line optional/debug/qol
+RUN apt update && apt install -y \
+    libmariadb-dev gcc \
+    mariadb-client
+
 
 WORKDIR /code
 COPY requirements.txt /code
diff --git a/backend/README.md b/backend/README.md
index a7b6c04..e2b34d0 100644
--- a/backend/README.md
+++ b/backend/README.md
@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@ Prod only, require sys packages:
 pip install mariadb
 pip install uwsgi
 ...
+```
+
+Freeze/requirements.txt. Better to audit this inside python:3-bookworm-slim container.
+```
 pip freeze > requirements.txt
 ```
 
diff --git a/backend/app/models.py b/backend/app/models.py
index dc5a1a3..9cace57 100644
--- a/backend/app/models.py
+++ b/backend/app/models.py
@@ -9,6 +9,13 @@ import pydenticon, hashlib, base64
 from app import db, login
 from flask_login import UserMixin
 
+followers = sa.Table(
+        'followers',
+        db.metadata,
+        sa.Column('follower_id', sa.Integer, sa.ForeignKey('user.id'), primary_key=True),
+        sa.Column('followed_id', sa.Integer, sa.ForeignKey('user.id'), primary_key=True)
+)
+
 class User(UserMixin, db.Model):
     id: so.Mapped[int] = so.mapped_column(primary_key=True)
     username: so.Mapped[str] = so.mapped_column(sa.String(64), index=True, unique=True)
@@ -17,6 +24,16 @@ class User(UserMixin, db.Model):
     posts: so.WriteOnlyMapped['Post'] = so.relationship(back_populates='author')
     about_me: so.Mapped[Optional[str]] = so.mapped_column(sa.String(140))
     last_seen: so.Mapped[Optional[datetime]] = so.mapped_column(default=lambda: datetime.now(timezone.utc))
+    following: so.WriteOnlyMapped['User'] = so.relationship(
+            secondary=followers,
+            primaryjoin=(followers.c.follower_id == id),
+            secondaryjoin=(followers.c.followed_id == id),
+            back_populates='followers')
+    followers: so.WriteOnlyMapped['User'] = so.relationship(
+            secondary=followers,
+            primaryjoin=(followers.c.followed_id == id),
+            secondaryjoin=(followers.c.follower_id == id),
+            back_populates='following')
 
     def set_password(self, password):
         self.password_hash = generate_password_hash(password)
@@ -49,6 +66,36 @@ class User(UserMixin, db.Model):
         pngloc = os.path.join(basedir, 'usercontent', 'identicon', digest + '.png')
         return pngloc
 
+    def follow(self, user):
+        if not self.is_following(user):
+            self.following.add(user)
+    def unfollow(self, user):
+        if self.is_following(user):
+            self.following.remove(user)
+    def is_following(self, user):
+        query = self.following.select().where(User.id == user.id)
+        return db.session.scalar(query) is not None
+    def followers_count(self):
+        query = sa.select(sa.func.count()).select_from(self.followers.select().subquery())
+        return db.session.scalar(query)
+    def following_count(self):
+        query = sa.select(sa.func.count()).select_from(self.following.select().subquery())
+        return db.session.scalar(query)
+    def following_posts(self):
+        Author = so.aliased(User)
+        Follower = so.aliased(User)
+        return (
+                sa.select(Post)
+                .join(Post.author.of_type(Author))
+                .join(Author.followers.of_type(Follower), isouter=True)
+                .where(sa.or_(
+                    Follower.id == self.id
+                    Author.id == self.id
+                ))
+                .group_by(Post)
+                .order_by(Post.timestamp.desc())
+        )
+
     def __repr__(self):
         return '<User {}>'.format(self.username)
 
diff --git a/backend/dbdb.sh b/backend/dbdb.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4c3930b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/dbdb.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Okay to publish -- creds are local dev only
+
+mariadb -hdb -uflasku -pflaskp flask
diff --git a/backend/requirements.txt b/backend/requirements.txt
index 5df5030..2cdaf64 100644
--- a/backend/requirements.txt
+++ b/backend/requirements.txt
@@ -21,5 +21,9 @@ SQLAlchemy==2.0.31
 typing_extensions==4.12.2
 Werkzeug==3.0.3
 WTForms==3.1.2
-uwsgi
-mariadb
+mariadb==1.1.10
+packaging==24.1
+setuptools==72.1.0
+uWSGI==2.0.26
+wheel==0.43.0
+
diff --git a/backend/tests.py b/backend/tests.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1b31bb1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/tests.py
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+import os
+os.environ['DATABASE_URL'] = 'sqlite://'
+
+from datetime import datetime, timezone, timedelta
+
diff --git a/compose.yaml b/compose.yaml
index 5e45c24..a4ffbc3 100644
--- a/compose.yaml
+++ b/compose.yaml
@@ -28,7 +28,10 @@ services:
     build:
       context: backend
       target: builder
-    restart: always
+    # Next two are only debug, used without restart
+    stdin_open: true
+    tty: true
+    #restart: always
     # Comment following line to use flask (1worker, dev), uncomment to use uwsgi (wsgi)
     #command: ["uwsgi", "--http", "0.0.0.0:8000", "--master", "-p", "4", "-w", "microblog:app"]
     environment: