diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index cba7efc..455ad73 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 a.out
+nvimnotes
diff --git a/a.out b/a.out
deleted file mode 100755
index 0a2f402..0000000
Binary files a/a.out and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/makefile b/makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6629a9f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# Makefile for the Notes Vault project
+
+# Compiler
+CC = gcc
+
+# Source files
+SRC = startup.c
+
+# Output binary
+TARGET = nvimnotes
+
+# Compiler flags
+CFLAGS = -Wall -O2 `pkg-config --cflags libcjson ncurses`
+
+# Linker flags
+LDFLAGS = `pkg-config --libs libcjson ncurses`
+
+# Debug mode
+DEBUG ?= 0
+ifeq ($(DEBUG),1)
+    CFLAGS += -g
+endif
+
+.PHONY: all clean run
+
+all: $(TARGET)
+
+$(TARGET): $(SRC)
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $^ -o $@ $(LDFLAGS)
+
+run: $(TARGET)
+	./$(TARGET)
+
+clean:
+	rm -f $(TARGET)