diff --git a/cli/package.json b/cli/package.json
index aff18af49..0df7ba952 100644
--- a/cli/package.json
+++ b/cli/package.json
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
   "dependencies": {
     "ink": "^3.2.0",
     "meow": "^10.1.2",
+    "mongoose": "^6.2.7",
     "react": "^17.0.2"
   }
 }
diff --git a/cli/src/App.tsx b/cli/src/App.tsx
index 3002cd3f3..f9739a793 100644
--- a/cli/src/App.tsx
+++ b/cli/src/App.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 import React, { ReactNode, useState } from "react";
 import { Box, Newline, Text, useInput } from "ink";
-import Builds from "./components/Builds";
 import FinalConfig from "./components/FinalConfig";
 import { useConfig, useSequence } from "./hooks";
 import { Config } from "./types";
@@ -17,7 +16,6 @@ const App = () => {
   const [periphery, setPeriphery] = useState<boolean>();
   const [installing, setInstalling] = useState(false);
   const [config, setConfig] = useConfig<Config>({
-    useBuilds: false,
     mongoURL: "",
     registryURL: "",
   });
@@ -25,7 +23,6 @@ const App = () => {
   const corePages: ReactNode[] = [
     <Mongo setConfig={setConfig} next={next} />,
     <Registry setConfig={setConfig} next={next} />,
-    <Builds setConfig={setConfig} next={next} />,
   ];
 
   const peripheryPages: ReactNode[] = [];
diff --git a/cli/src/components/Builds.tsx b/cli/src/components/Builds.tsx
deleted file mode 100644
index c5362ce4b..000000000
--- a/cli/src/components/Builds.tsx
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,33 +0,0 @@
-import { Box, Newline, Text } from "ink";
-import React from "react";
-import { SetConfig } from "../types";
-import Selector from "./util/Selector";
-
-const Builds = (p: { setConfig: SetConfig; next: () => void }) => {
-	return (
-		<Box flexDirection="column">
-			<Text>Would you like to enable docker build services?</Text>
-			<Text>
-				This will create a{" "}
-				<Text color="blue" bold>
-					docker registry
-				</Text>{" "}
-				and enable Monitor to act as a{" "}
-				<Text color="blue" bold>
-					build server
-				</Text>
-				.
-			</Text>
-			<Newline />
-			<Selector
-				items={["yes", "no"]}
-				onSelect={(item) => {
-					p.setConfig("useBuilds", item === "yes");
-					p.next();
-				}}
-			/>
-		</Box>
-	);
-};
-
-export default Builds;
diff --git a/cli/src/components/FinalConfig.tsx b/cli/src/components/FinalConfig.tsx
index d700033c3..03d029012 100644
--- a/cli/src/components/FinalConfig.tsx
+++ b/cli/src/components/FinalConfig.tsx
@@ -35,10 +35,6 @@ const FinalConfig = (p: {
           <Text color="green">
             registry url: <Text color="white">{p.config.registryURL}</Text>
           </Text>
-          <Text color={p.config.useBuilds ? "green" : "red"}>
-            use builds:{" "}
-            <Text color="white">{p.config.useBuilds ? "yes" : "no"}</Text>
-          </Text>
         </Box>
         <Newline />
         <Text>
diff --git a/cli/src/components/mongo/Mongo.tsx b/cli/src/components/mongo/Mongo.tsx
index 37561951c..72add254f 100644
--- a/cli/src/components/mongo/Mongo.tsx
+++ b/cli/src/components/mongo/Mongo.tsx
@@ -79,6 +79,11 @@ const Mongo = ({
           </Text>
         </Box>
         <Newline />
+        <Text color="gray">
+          note: remember to specify the database name in the url, ie
+          mongodb://localhost:27017<Text color="green">/monitor</Text>
+        </Text>
+        <Newline />
         {confirm && (
           <Text>
             press{" "}
diff --git a/cli/src/helpers/general.ts b/cli/src/helpers/general.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e32c0bcdf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cli/src/helpers/general.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+export function toDashedName(name: string) {
+	return name.toLowerCase().replaceAll(" ", "-");
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/cli/src/helpers/mongoose/deployment.ts b/cli/src/helpers/mongoose/deployment.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cb8445dcd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cli/src/helpers/mongoose/deployment.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+import { Deployment } from "@monitor/types";
+import { model, Schema } from "mongoose";
+
+export default function deploymentModel() {
+	const Conversion = new Schema({
+    local: String,
+    container: String,
+  });
+
+  const Volume = new Schema({
+    variable: String,
+    value: String,
+  });
+
+  const EnvironmentVar = new Schema({
+    variable: String,
+    value: String,
+  });
+
+  const schema = new Schema<Deployment>({
+    name: { type: String, unique: true, index: true },
+    containerName: { type: String, unique: true, index: true }, // for auto pull of frontend repo as well
+    owner: { type: String, index: true },
+    serverID: { type: String, index: true },
+    buildID: { type: String, index: true }, // if deploying a monitor build
+    /* to create docker run command */
+    image: String, // used if deploying an external image (from docker hub)
+    latest: Boolean, // if custom image, use this to add :latest
+    ports: [Conversion],
+    volumes: [Volume],
+    environment: [EnvironmentVar],
+    network: String,
+    restart: String,
+    postImage: String, // interpolated into run command after the image String
+    containerUser: String, // after -u in the run command
+    /* to manage repo for static frontend, mounted as a volume */
+    repo: String,
+    branch: { type: String, default: "master" },
+    accessToken: String,
+    containerMount: String, // the file path to mount repo on inside the container
+  });
+
+	return model("Deployment", schema)
+}
diff --git a/cli/src/helpers/mongoose/mongoose.ts b/cli/src/helpers/mongoose/mongoose.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..51890f5d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cli/src/helpers/mongoose/mongoose.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+import { Deployment } from "@monitor/types";
+import mongoose from "mongoose";
+import deploymentModel from "./deployment";
+import serverModel from "./server";
+import userModel from "./user";
+
+export async function addInitialDocs(mongoURL: string, localMongo: boolean, localRegistry: boolean) {
+  await mongoose.connect(mongoURL);
+
+  const servers = serverModel();
+  const deployments = deploymentModel();
+  const users = userModel();
+
+  const coreServer = {
+    name: "Core Server",
+    address: "localhost",
+    passkey: "passkey",
+    enabled: true,
+    isCore: true,
+  };
+  const coreServerID = (await servers.create(coreServer)).toObject()._id;
+
+  const coreDeployment: Deployment = {
+    name: "Monitor Core",
+    containerName: "monitor-core",
+    image: "mbecker2020/monitor-core",
+    latest: true,
+    serverID: coreServerID,
+    owner: "admin",
+  };
+  deployments.create(coreDeployment);
+
+  if (localMongo) {
+     const mongoDeployment: Deployment = {
+       name: "Mongo DB",
+       containerName: "mongo-db",
+       image: "mongo",
+       latest: true,
+       owner: "admin",
+     };
+     deployments.create(mongoDeployment);
+  }
+
+  if (localRegistry) {
+    const registryDeployment: Deployment = {
+      name: "Registry",
+      containerName: "registry",
+      image: "registry:2",
+      serverID: coreServerID,
+      owner: "admin",
+    };
+    deployments.create(registryDeployment);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/cli/src/helpers/mongoose/server.ts b/cli/src/helpers/mongoose/server.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a2e0c4634
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cli/src/helpers/mongoose/server.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+import { Server } from "@monitor/types";
+import { model, Schema } from "mongoose";
+
+export default function serverModel() {
+	const schema = new Schema<Server>({
+    name: { type: String, unique: true },
+    address: String,
+    passkey: String,
+    enabled: { type: Boolean, default: true },
+    isCore: Boolean,
+  });
+
+  return model("Server", schema);
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/cli/src/helpers/mongoose/user.ts b/cli/src/helpers/mongoose/user.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c0a13d1ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cli/src/helpers/mongoose/user.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+import { User } from "@monitor/types";
+import { Schema, model } from "mongoose";
+
+export default function userModel() {
+	const schema = new Schema<User>({
+    username: { type: String, index: true, required: true },
+    permissions: { type: Number, default: 0 },
+    password: String,
+    avatar: String,
+    githubID: { type: Number, index: true },
+  });
+
+	return model("User", schema);
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/cli/src/types.d.ts b/cli/src/types.d.ts
index 6223751e9..83cdc6b5d 100644
--- a/cli/src/types.d.ts
+++ b/cli/src/types.d.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 export type Config = {
-	useBuilds: boolean; // will set up the registry and enable docker build functionality
 	mongoURL: string;
 	registryURL: string;
 };
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 3a843bb1c..be901ac25 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -20,9 +20,7 @@
     "docker-run-core": "cd core && yarn docker-run",
     "build-periphery": "cd periphery && yarn build",
     "start-frontend": "cd frontend && yarn start",
-    "build-frontend": "cd frontend && yarn build",
-    "run-mongo": "docker run -d --name mongo -p 27017:27017 mongo:latest",
-    "run-registry": "docker run -d --name registry --network=\"host\" registry:2"
+    "build-frontend": "cd frontend && yarn build"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "typescript": "^4.6.2"
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 63458a333..3f9db162a 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -1942,6 +1942,19 @@ mongoose@^6.2.6:
     ms "2.1.3"
     sift "16.0.0"
 
+mongoose@^6.2.7:
+  version "6.2.7"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/mongoose/-/mongoose-6.2.7.tgz#d8ea2fce4c19200d316c3ac4a8377f3af4fb4450"
+  integrity sha512-yqTZcM3u0+aLzl6cirtXy6vr24kt+kFyTucCQ3pyncvO1jGn/M1R09qkC/v54QoPXeVJdpcuS5eQWn0NLlDvKA==
+  dependencies:
+    bson "^4.2.2"
+    kareem "2.3.4"
+    mongodb "4.3.1"
+    mpath "0.8.4"
+    mquery "4.0.2"
+    ms "2.1.3"
+    sift "16.0.0"
+
 mpath@0.8.4:
   version "0.8.4"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/mpath/-/mpath-0.8.4.tgz#6b566d9581621d9e931dd3b142ed3618e7599313"