diff --git a/build/e2e/Dockerfile b/build/e2e/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..bcecbd047ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/e2e/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+ARG GO_VERSION=1.17
+
+#######################
+##  run initialize setup step for ZITADEL tests
+#######################
+FROM golang:${GO_VERSION}
+RUN mkdir -p /cmd/e2e-setup
+WORKDIR /
+
+# copy setup
+COPY . .
+RUN e2e/e2e-setup-compose.sh
diff --git a/e2e/compose.env b/e2e/compose.env
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..72b76dd0f9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/e2e/compose.env
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+ZITADEL_E2E_CYPRESS_PORT=5000
+ZITADEL_E2E_ORG=e2e-tests
+ZITADEL_E2E_ORGOWNERPW=Password1!
+ZITADEL_E2E_ORGOWNERVIEWERPW=Password1!
+ZITADEL_E2E_ORGPROJECTCREATORPW=Password1!
+ZITADEL_E2E_PASSWORDCOMPLEXITYUSERPW=Password1!
+ZITADEL_E2E_LOGINPOLICYUSERPW=Password1!
+ZITADEL_E2E_MACHINEKEYPATH="${projectRoot}/.keys/e2e.json"
+ZITADEL_E2E_BASEURL="http://zitadel:8080"
+ZITADEL_E2E_OTHERZITADELIDPINSTANCE=false
+ZITADEL_E2E_ZITADELPROJECTRESOURCEID="bignumber-$(echo -n $(${projectRoot}/e2e/docker-compose.sh exec --no-TTY db cockroach sql --database zitadel --insecure --execute "select aggregate_id from eventstore.events where event_type = 'project.added' and event_data = '{\"name\": \"ZITADEL\"}';" --format tsv) | cut -d " " -f 2)"
+ZITADEL_E2E_INSTANCEID="$(echo -n $(${projectRoot}/e2e/docker-compose.sh exec --no-TTY db cockroach sql --database zitadel --insecure --execute "select aggregate_id from eventstore.events where event_type = 'instance.added' and event_data = '{\"name\": \"Localhost\"}';" --format tsv) | cut -d " " -f 2)"
diff --git a/e2e/docker-compose-overwrite.yaml b/e2e/docker-compose-overwrite.yaml
index 7a1380fbb6a..9bbb966a668 100644
--- a/e2e/docker-compose-overwrite.yaml
+++ b/e2e/docker-compose-overwrite.yaml
@@ -1,3 +1,29 @@
 services:
   zitadel:
     image: 'zitadel:${BUILD_DATE}'
+  e2e:
+    image: cypress/included:10.3.0
+    #build: ./e2e
+    container_name: cypress
+    depends_on:
+      - zitadel
+    # note: inside e2e container, the network allows accessing
+    # "zitadel" host under name "zitadel"
+    # so "curl http://web" would return whatever the webserver
+    # in the "web" container is cooking
+    # see https://docs.docker.com/compose/networking/
+    #environment:
+    #  - CYPRESS_baseUrl=http://web
+    #command: npx cypress run 
+    # mount the host directory e2e/cypress and the file e2e/cypress.config.js as
+    # volumes within the container
+    # this means that:
+    #  1. anything that Cypress writes to these folders (e.g., screenshots,
+    #     videos) appears also on the Docker host's filesystem
+    #  2. any change that the developer applies to Cypress files on the host
+    #     machine immediately takes effect within the e2e container (no docker
+    #     rebuild required).
+    working_dir: /e2e
+    volumes:
+      - /Users/christianjakob/caos/internal/zitadel/console:/e2e
+#      - ./console/cypress.config.js:/e2e/cypress.config.js
diff --git a/e2e/e2e-setup-compose.sh b/e2e/e2e-setup-compose.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..63ed3a3ced1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/e2e/e2e-setup-compose.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -ex
+
+export projectRoot="."
+
+set -a
+source ./e2e/compose.env
+set +a
+
+go run ./cmd/e2e-setup/*.go "$@"