diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 578a29d8..43ba845a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ node_modules
 .svelte-kit
 build
 
+# Rust
+/target
+**/*.rs.bk
+
 # OS
 .DS_Store
 Thumbs.db
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fc458991
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# The Rust half of this monorepo. The JS/TS half is `package.json`.
+#
+# Layout, per the same rule on both sides: split by *what a thing is*, not by
+# what language it is written in.
+#
+#   apps/       deployables — a binary someone runs
+#   crates/     shared Rust — a library another crate depends on
+#   packages/   shared JS/TS
+#
+# Members are added as components move in. An empty list is honest: nothing has
+# landed yet.
+
+[workspace]
+resolver = "3"
+members = []
+
+# One pin per dependency, here. A member never writes a version — that is what
+# stops two crates in one tree from disagreeing about tokio.
+[workspace.dependencies]
+anyhow = "1"
+clap = { version = "4", features = ["derive", "env"] }
+libc = "0.2"
+serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive"] }
+serde_json = "1"
+thiserror = "2"
+tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }
+tracing = "0.1"
+tracing-subscriber = { version = "0.3", features = ["env-filter"] }
+
+[workspace.package]
+edition = "2024"
+license = "Apache-2.0"
+repository = "https://github.com/nestrilabs/nestri"
diff --git a/crates/README.md b/crates/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4adf9f65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# `crates/`
+
+Shared Rust: a library another crate in this repo depends on. A binary someone
+runs goes in [`apps/`](../apps); shared JS/TS goes in
+[`packages/`](../packages). The split is by *what a thing is*, not by what
+language it is written in — same rule on both sides of the repo.
+
+Empty today. Components move here one at a time as they are opened.
+
+## Two rules
+
+**Every version is pinned in the root `Cargo.toml`.** A member writes
+`tokio.workspace = true` and never a version, so two crates in this tree cannot
+disagree about a dependency.
+
+**Nothing here may depend on anything closed, or name it.** This repo is
+public. A crate that needs a private component is in the wrong repo, and a
+comment explaining *who calls this* wants a category noun — "the caller", "a
+supervising agent" — rather than a name. The requirement is the interesting
+part; who currently satisfies it is not.