diff --git a/.envrc b/.envrc
index 97b3f16c6f..f58a7cee60 100644
--- a/.envrc
+++ b/.envrc
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
-export VIRTUAL_ENV=".venv"
-layout python3
+export VIRTUAL_ENV="${PWD}/.venv"
+devenv sync
+PATH_add "${PWD}/.venv/bin"
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index be4f11ce3d..5f87fdbd5c 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -27,3 +27,4 @@ spring-server.txt
 spy.log
 .kotlin
 **/tomcat.8080/webapps/
+**/__pycache__
diff --git a/.python-version b/.python-version
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2c20ac9bea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.python-version
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+3.13.3
diff --git a/devenv/config.ini b/devenv/config.ini
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b546b762c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/devenv/config.ini
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+[devenv]
+minimum_version = 1.22.1
+
+[uv]
+darwin_arm64 = https://github.com/astral-sh/uv/releases/download/0.8.2/uv-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
+darwin_arm64_sha256 = 954d24634d5f37fa26c7af75eb79893d11623fc81b4de4b82d60d1ade4bfca22
+darwin_x86_64 = https://github.com/astral-sh/uv/releases/download/0.8.2/uv-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
+darwin_x86_64_sha256 = ae755df53c8c2c1f3dfbee6e3d2e00be0dfbc9c9b4bdffdb040b96f43678b7ce
+linux_arm64 = https://github.com/astral-sh/uv/releases/download/0.8.2/uv-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz
+linux_arm64_sha256 = 27da35ef54e9131c2e305de67dd59a07c19257882c6b1f3cf4d8d5fbb8eaf4ca
+linux_x86_64 = https://github.com/astral-sh/uv/releases/download/0.8.2/uv-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz
+linux_x86_64_sha256 = 6dcb28a541868a455aefb2e8d4a1283dd6bf888605a2db710f0530cec888b0ad
+# used for autoupdate
+# NOTE: if using uv-build as a build backend, you'll have to make sure the versions match
+version = 0.8.2
+
diff --git a/devenv/sync.py b/devenv/sync.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..45e663cd99
--- /dev/null
+++ b/devenv/sync.py
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+from devenv import constants
+from devenv.lib import config, proc, uv
+import os
+
+def main(context: dict[str, str]) -> int:
+    reporoot = context["reporoot"]
+    cfg = config.get_repo(reporoot)
+
+    uv.install(
+        cfg["uv"]["version"],
+        cfg["uv"][constants.SYSTEM_MACHINE],
+        cfg["uv"][f"{constants.SYSTEM_MACHINE}_sha256"],
+        reporoot,
+    )
+
+    # reporoot/.venv is the default venv location
+    print(f"syncing .venv ...")
+    if not os.path.exists(".venv"):
+        proc.run(("uv", "venv", "--seed"))
+    proc.run(("uv", "sync", "--frozen", "--quiet"))
+
+    return 0
+
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..55509e3912
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[project]
+name = "javasdk"
+version = "0.0.0"
diff --git a/uv.lock b/uv.lock
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..84b7527660
--- /dev/null
+++ b/uv.lock
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+version = 1
+revision = 2
+requires-python = ">=3.13"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "javasdk"
+version = "0.0.0"
+source = { virtual = "." }