diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b97265ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,130 @@
+.PHONY: all clean install dev venv deps help nilup activate devnet example check_venv check_nillion
+
+VENV := venv
+PYTHON := $(VENV)/bin/python
+PIP := $(VENV)/bin/pip
+CONFIG_DIR := $(HOME)/.config/nillion
+SHELL := /bin/bash
+QUICK_START_DIR := $(shell pwd)/quickstart_complete/nada_quickstart_programs
+SEPARATOR := "=================================================="
+
+ifeq ($(OS),Windows_NT)
+    VENV_ACTIVATE := $(VENV)/Scripts/activate
+else
+    VENV_ACTIVATE := $(VENV)/bin/activate
+endif
+
+.DEFAULT_GOAL := help
+
+help:
+	@echo $(SEPARATOR)
+	@echo "  Usage:"
+	@echo
+	@echo "    make nilup      Install nilup and Nillion SDK"
+	@echo "    make install    Install all dependencies and setup environment (requires nilup)"
+	@echo "    make dev        Setup development environment"
+	@echo "    make clean      Remove virtual environment and cached files"
+	@echo "    make deps       Install/update dependencies only"
+	@echo "    make activate   Activate the virtual environment"
+	@echo "    make devnet     Start the Nillion devnet"
+	@echo "    make example    Build the quickstart example"
+	@echo "    make help       Show this help message"
+	@echo $(SEPARATOR)
+
+check_venv:
+	@if [ -z "$$VIRTUAL_ENV" ]; then \
+		echo $(SEPARATOR); \
+		echo "  Error: Virtual environment is not activated"; \
+		echo; \
+		echo "  Please run 'make activate' and follow the instructions"; \
+		echo $(SEPARATOR); \
+		exit 1; \
+	fi
+
+check_nillion:
+	@if ! command -v nillion > /dev/null; then \
+		echo $(SEPARATOR); \
+		echo "  Error: nillion command not found"; \
+		echo; \
+		echo "  Please run 'make install' first to set up the environment"; \
+		echo $(SEPARATOR); \
+		exit 1; \
+	fi
+
+activate:
+	@if [ ! -d "$(VENV)" ]; then \
+		echo $(SEPARATOR); \
+		echo "  Error: Virtual environment not found"; \
+		echo; \
+		echo "  Please run 'make install' first to set up the environment"; \
+		echo $(SEPARATOR); \
+		exit 1; \
+	fi
+	@echo $(SEPARATOR)
+	@echo "  To activate the virtual environment, run:"
+	@echo
+	@echo "    source $(VENV_ACTIVATE)"
+	@echo $(SEPARATOR)
+
+nilup:
+	@echo $(SEPARATOR)
+	@if ! command -v nilup > /dev/null; then \
+		echo "  Installing nilup..."; \
+		curl -s https://nilup.nilogy.xyz/install.sh | bash; \
+		echo; \
+		echo "  Please close and reopen your terminal, then run 'make install'"; \
+		echo $(SEPARATOR); \
+		exit 1; \
+	fi
+	@echo "  nilup is already installed"
+	@echo $(SEPARATOR)
+
+	
+$(VENV):
+	virtualenv $(VENV)
+	$(PIP) install --upgrade pip
+
+deps: $(VENV)
+	$(PIP) install -r requirements.txt
+
+$(CONFIG_DIR):
+	mkdir -p $(CONFIG_DIR)
+
+install: $(VENV) deps $(CONFIG_DIR)
+	@if ! command -v nilup > /dev/null; then \
+		echo $(SEPARATOR); \
+		echo "  Error: nilup not found. Please run 'make nilup' first"; \
+		echo $(SEPARATOR); \
+		exit 1; \
+	fi
+	@if ! command -v nillion > /dev/null; then \
+		nilup install latest; \
+		nilup use latest; \
+	fi
+
+devnet: check_venv check_nillion
+	nillion-devnet
+
+dev: install
+	@echo $(SEPARATOR)
+	@echo "  Development environment ready"
+	@echo
+	@echo "  Run 'make activate' to activate the virtual environment"
+	@echo "  Run 'make devnet' in a separate terminal to start the devnet"
+	@echo $(SEPARATOR)
+
+example: check_venv check_nillion
+	@if [ ! -d "$(QUICK_START_DIR)" ]; then \
+		echo $(SEPARATOR); \
+		echo "  Error: Quickstart directory not found at $(QUICK_START_DIR)"; \
+		echo; \
+		echo "  Please ensure you have the correct project structure"; \
+		echo $(SEPARATOR); \
+		exit 1; \
+	fi
+	cd $(QUICK_START_DIR) && nada build
+
+clean:
+	rm -rf $(VENV)
+	find . -type d -name "__pycache__" -exec rm -rf {} +
+	find . -type f -name "*.pyc" -delete
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 996460f0..657a6d8b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -4,6 +4,38 @@ Welcome to the start of your Nillion developer journey.
 
 This repo corresponds to the Nillion Python quickstart. To get started with Nillion head over to the [Python QuickStart docs](https://docs.nillion.com/python-quickstart) and follow the quickstart guide. 
 
+## Quick Setup
+
+First, make sure that you have `virtualenv` and `make` installed. if not, installed them for your OS.
+
+And then:
+```bash
+# Install nilup (Nillion SDK manager)
+make nilup
+
+# Install dependencies and setup development environment
+make dev
+```
+After setup is complete, follow the displayed instructions to start developing with Nillion.
+
+To build the quickstart example, run:
+```bash
+make example
+``` 
+
+## Available Commands
+To see all available commands, run
+```bash
+make help
+```
+
+## Manual Setup
+
+If you prefer to set up manually, head over to the [Python QuickStart docs](https://docs.nillion.com/python-quickstart) and follow the instructions.
+
+
+## Examples
+
 For more python examples, check out https://github.com/NillionNetwork/python-examples which contains the following:
 - core_concept_multi_party_compute
 - core_concept_permissions