diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index cc55293..35264fb 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -5,3 +5,5 @@ password.txt
 /.vscode
 data.json
 .env
+build/
+index.out.css
diff --git a/README-deploy.md b/README-deploy.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0d5d470
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README-deploy.md
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+### Steps to Deploy
+- move contents of frontend/ to /srv/www-csc-links/
+- create a `.env` file in backend/ with following contents:
+```
+PASSWORD=...
+PORT=...
+```
+- run the following in backend/:
+```
+python3 -m venv venv
+source venv/bin/activate
+pip install -r requirements.txt
+```
+- run python app in backend/ (with the virtual env activated)
+- edit the `.htaccess` file in /srv/www-csc-links/ to point to the running python application
diff --git a/backend/main.py b/backend/main.py
index bc80ba8..30e461c 100644
--- a/backend/main.py
+++ b/backend/main.py
@@ -39,9 +39,9 @@ def get_data_from_query(query):
     con.close()
     return links_list
 
-def regen_html():
+def regen_html(path):
     """Gets links from DB and outputs them in HTML"""
-    outfile = open(out_path, 'w')
+    outfile = open(path, 'w')
     links_list = get_data_from_query('SELECT url, name FROM links WHERE active=1 ORDER BY position')
     html = render_template('template.html', links_list=links_list)
     print(html, file=outfile)
@@ -61,19 +61,21 @@ def get_links():
 @app.route('/editor/links', methods = ['POST'])
 @auth.login_required
 def update_links():
+
     con = sqlite3.connect(DB_PATH)
     cur = con.cursor()
     try:
-        cur.execute("begin")
-        cur.execute('DELETE FROM links')
-
-        links = []
         data = request.json['links']
+
         items = 'url', 'name', 'clicks', 'active'
         for i in range(len(data)):
             if not(all(e in data[i] for e in items)):
                 return "Bad request, some items missing from link object", 400
 
+        links = []
+        cur.execute("begin")
+        cur.execute('DELETE FROM links')
+        for i in range(len(data)):
             url = data[i]['url']
             name = data[i]['name']
             clicks = data[i]['clicks']
@@ -86,8 +88,7 @@ def update_links():
         cur.executemany('INSERT INTO links VALUES (?,?,?,?,?)', links)
         con.commit()
         con.close()
-        regen_html()
-
+        regen_html(out_path)
     except Exception as e:
         cur.execute("rollback")
         con.close()
diff --git a/backend/setup_db.py b/backend/setup_db.py
index 98bf54f..0fb91c5 100644
--- a/backend/setup_db.py
+++ b/backend/setup_db.py
@@ -23,9 +23,9 @@ if cur.fetchone():
   raise Exception('Links table already exists.')
 else:
   cur.execute('''CREATE TABLE links (
-    url text NOT NULL, 
-    name text NOT NULL, 
-    clicks int NOT NULL, 
+    url text NOT NULL,
+    name text NOT NULL,
+    clicks int NOT NULL,
     position int NOT NULL UNIQUE,
     active int NOT NULL,
     UNIQUE(url, name)
diff --git a/build.bash b/build.bash
index c904706..d9e996d 100755
--- a/build.bash
+++ b/build.bash
@@ -7,4 +7,16 @@ cd frontend/public
 NODE_ENV=production npx tailwindcss-cli@latest build index.in.css -o index.out.css
 cd ..
 npm run build && npm run export
-mv out ../build/frontend
+cd ..
+mv frontend/out build/frontend
+
+# Backend
+cd backend
+source venv/bin/activate
+if [ ! -f links.db ]; then
+  python3 setup_db.py
+fi
+cd ..
+rsync -ax --exclude venv backend/ build/backend
+
+cp README-deploy.md build