diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f2f19c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# Contributing
+
+- Fork this repository
+- Take a ticket from the Ready section of the project page. (Some tickets in the Backlog may be ready for work, but are probably dependent on items in the Ready section - please check with maintainer if you're interested in Backlog work.)
+- Create a topic branch. Branch names should begin with the issue number, followed by text describing the work. Please use lower-kebab-case (i.e. 2-readme-updated).
+- Complete work
+- Submit a pull request
+- Necessary migrations have been created with the following commands:
+  - migration:create [ name of migration ]
+  - migration:up
+  - migration:down [ name of migration ]
+
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2fbf185..1f4eedb 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -31,4 +31,4 @@ A mongodb database named lizardboard must be created prior to starting the appli
 - [React](https://facebook.github.io/react/)
 
 ## Testing
-TBD
\ No newline at end of file
+TBD
diff --git a/database.js b/database.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4988dd7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/database.js
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+const DATABSE_URL = 'mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/lizardboard';
+const MongoClient = require('mongodb').MongoClient, assert = require('assert');
+
+MongoClient.connect(DATABASE_URL, (err, response) => {
+  .then( DATABASE_URL => {
+    response.send('Successfully connected to the database')
+  })
+  .catch( error => {
+    response.render('error', { error: error })
+  });
+});
diff --git a/migrations/1477959880038-add-users.js b/migrations/1477959880038-add-users.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..307a41c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/migrations/1477959880038-add-users.js
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+'use strict';
+const mongoose = require('mongoose');
+
+/**
+ * Make any changes you need to make to the database here
+ */
+
+exports.up = function up (done) {
+    const add_users = new mongoose.Schema({
+      _id: {seq: 0},
+      name: {
+        first: String,
+        last: { type: String, trim: true }
+      },
+      email: {String}
+    });
+  done();
+};
+
+/**
+ * Make any changes that UNDO the up function side effects here (if possible)
+ */
+exports.down = function down(done) {
+  done();
+};
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 40fe0d1..aa68a90 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -5,7 +5,10 @@
   "main": "index.js",
   "scripts": {
     "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
-    "start": "nodemon ./bin/www"
+    "start": "nodemon ./bin/www",
+    "migration:create": "node_modules/.bin/migrate -d mongodb://localhost:27017/lizardboard create",
+    "migration:up": "node_modules/.bin/migrate -d mongodb://localhost:27017/lizardboard up",
+    "migration:down": "node_modules/.bin/migrate -d mongodb://localhost:27017/lizardboard down"
   },
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
@@ -23,7 +26,9 @@
     "debug": "~2.2.0",
     "ejs": "^2.5.2",
     "express": "~4.13.4",
+    "migrate-mongoose": "^2.0.2",
     "mongoose": "^4.6.5",
+    "mocha": "^3.1.2",
     "morgan": "~1.7.0",
     "pug": "^2.0.0-beta6",
     "react": "^15.3.2",
@@ -31,12 +36,10 @@
     "react-router": "^2.6.1"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
-    "mocha": "^3.1.2",
     "babel-cli": "^6.11.4",
     "babel-core": "^6.13.2",
     "babel-preset-es2015": "^6.13.2",
     "babel-preset-react": "^6.11.1",
-    "mocha": "^3.1.2",
     "nodemon": "^1.11.0",
     "serve-favicon": "~2.3.0"
   }
diff --git a/server/index.js b/server/index.js
index 3d4d5c1..b7069b0 100644
--- a/server/index.js
+++ b/server/index.js
@@ -69,5 +69,4 @@ app.use(function(err, req, res, next) {
   });
 });
 
-
-module.exports = app;
\ No newline at end of file
+module.exports = app;
diff --git a/views/index.pug b/views/index.pug
index 2202a2e..f0799fc 100644
--- a/views/index.pug
+++ b/views/index.pug
@@ -6,4 +6,3 @@ block content
 
   #root
   script(src="/public/javascripts/index.js")
-
diff --git a/views/layout.pug b/views/layout.pug
index a586957..373bd42 100644
--- a/views/layout.pug
+++ b/views/layout.pug
@@ -7,4 +7,3 @@ html
   body
     block content
   script(src="/javascripts/index.js")
-