diff --git a/.envrc.local.backends.template b/.envrc.local.backends.template
index 0ae44689030a18949b985c866aed24329bb4906d..06a3e2f01ec068dbba6d68264d030cdb2d572b01 100644
--- a/.envrc.local.backends.template
+++ b/.envrc.local.backends.template
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ export LOCAL_BACKEND_OCIS=false
 export LOCAL_BACKEND_GOODNEWS=false
 export LOCAL_BACKEND_DONATIONS=false
 export LOCAL_BACKEND_VOLUNTEERING=false
+export LOCAL_BACKEND_EVENTS=false
 export LOCAL_BACKEND_GEOAPI=false
 export LOCAL_BACKEND_STORYBOOK=true
 export LOCAL_BACKEND_NOTIFICATIONS=false
diff --git a/.node-version b/.node-version
deleted file mode 100644
index 7d41c735d7127c4a2530ebe846b14ffbf38b8031..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/.node-version
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-22.14.0
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c04596a47b48027f3dc404941d3a9c47f6440bcb..fd949541b28935157e947c63233e774919001b62 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -310,6 +310,7 @@ The following table lists all ports that are used for local execution.
 | geo                             | 8003 |
 | volunteering                    | 8004 |
 | notifications                   | 8005 |
+| app-events                      | 8006 |
 | pubsub-emulator                 | 8085 |
 | ocis-subscriber                 | 8086 |
 | ocis-postgres                   | 8087 |
diff --git a/init.sh b/init.sh
index bb755d558e60b7ae049ee0b4359dedaaeffe631e..a01a682c5c7615d726dd5dc66a4997a3f7e9dc61 100755
--- a/init.sh
+++ b/init.sh
@@ -128,6 +128,7 @@ checkoutAndPrepare git@gitlab.holi.team:app/holi-chat-integration.git holi-chat-
 checkoutAndPrepare git@gitlab.holi.team:app/holi-libretranslate.git holi-libretranslate
 checkoutAndPrepare git@gitlab.holi.team:app/holi-translation-api.git holi-translation-api
 checkoutAndPrepare git@gitlab.holi.team:app/holi-moderation.git holi-moderation
+checkoutAndPrepare git@gitlab.holi.team:app/holi-app-events.git holi-app-events
 
 # these are technically not used in a local development environment, but they
 # make use of common definitions from holi-meta. If you want to check them out,
diff --git a/mprocs-local-backend.yaml b/mprocs-local-backend.yaml
index fe59e959d172fd93f157c205db22873d7ea9fa77..3a6a7798395b9f5476bea6870776b0a674122185 100644
--- a/mprocs-local-backend.yaml
+++ b/mprocs-local-backend.yaml
@@ -121,6 +121,18 @@ procs:
         echo starting fake;
         FAKE="true" ./mprocs-start.sh;
       fi;
+  app-events:
+    cwd: <CONFIG_DIR>/holi-app-events
+    shell: >
+      . ../.envrc.local.backends;
+      . ./.envrc.local;
+      deno install;
+      if [ "$LOCAL_BACKEND_EVENTS" = "true" ]; then
+        ./mprocs-start.sh;
+      else
+        echo starting fake;
+        FAKE="true" ./mprocs-start.sh;
+      fi;
   translation-api:
     cwd: <CONFIG_DIR>/holi-translation-api
     shell: >