diff --git a/spine.el b/spine.el
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+++ b/spine.el
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+;;; spine.el — personal reading tracker, served from Emacs
+
+;; --- package bootstrap ------------------------------------------------
+
+(require 'package)
+(add-to-list 'package-archives
+             '("melpa" . "https://melpa.org/packages/")
+             t)
+(package-initialize)
+
+(dolist (pkg '(simple-httpd mustache))
+  (unless (package-installed-p pkg)
+    (package-refresh-contents)
+    (package-install pkg)))
+
+(require 'simple-httpd)
+(require 'mustache)
+
+;; --- configuration ----------------------------------------------------
+
+(defvar spine-port 8080
+  "Port for the Spine HTTP server.")
+
+(defvar spine-template-dir
+  (expand-file-name "templates/"
+                    (file-name-directory load-file-name))
+  "Directory containing .mustache templates.")
+
+;; --- template rendering -----------------------------------------------
+
+(defun spine-render (name context)
+  "Render templates/NAME.mustache with CONTEXT (an ht hash table).
+Returns the rendered string."
+  (mustache-render
+   (with-temp-buffer
+     (insert-file-contents
+      (expand-file-name name spine-template-dir))
+     (buffer-string))
+   context))
+
+;; --- handlers ---------------------------------------------------------
+
+(defservlet hello text/html ()
+  (insert (spine-render "hello.mustache"
+            (ht ("title"   "Spine")
+                ("message" "Hello from Emacs.")))))
+
+;; --- start ------------------------------------------------------------
+
+(setq httpd-port spine-port)
+(httpd-start)
+(message "Spine listening on http://localhost:%d" spine-port)
+
+(provide 'spine)
+;;; spine.el ends here