diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index c73a62e623..7c815abbc2 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -1,40 +1,75 @@
 # Contributing
 
-Thanks for your help! Due to ReScript's nature, the contribution setup isn't all straightforward. If something isn't working, please file an issue!
+Welcome to the ReScript compiler project!
+
+This documet will give you guidance on how to get up and running to work on the ReScript compiler and toolchain. 
+
+We tried to keep the installation process as simple as possible. In case you are having issues or get stuck in the process, please let us know in the issue tracker.
+
+Happy hacking!
 
 ## Prerequisites
 
-- [NodeJS](https://nodejs.org/)
-- C compiler toolchain (you probably already have it installed)
-- OS: Mac/Linux (ReScript works on Windows, but developing the repo using Windows isn't tested. Contribution welcome!)
+> We are mainly working on Apple machines, so all our instructions are currently MacOS / Linux centric. Contributions for Windows development welcome!
 
-## Install native OCaml compiler
+- [NodeJS v16](https://nodejs.org/)
+- C compiler toolchain (usually installed with `xcode` on Mac)
+- `opam` (OCaml Package Manager)
+- VSCode (+ [OCaml Platform Extension](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ocamllabs.ocaml-platform))
 
-If you are familiar with OCaml toolchain, you can use 
+## Install native OCaml compiler, dune, testing utilities
 
-```
-opam switch 4.06.1+rescript
-eval $(opam env)
-```
+The ReScript compiler compiles with any recent OCaml compiler. We are using `dune` as a build system for easy workflows and proper IDE support.
 
-If you don't want to bother with opam, we provided a vendored compiler, you can use it directly
 ```
-node ./scripts/buildocaml.js
-# make sure the built compiler is in your PATH, checkout native directory
+brew install opam
+opam init
+
+# Install build system
+opam install dune
+
+# Install language server for IDE support
+opam install ocaml-lsp-server
+
+# Any recent OCaml version works as a development compiler
+opam switch create 4.12.1
+
+# We use NodeJS to run our test suites and other utilities.
+npm install
 ```
 
+## Configure and Build the Compiler (`ninja` workflow)
 
-## Build
+> Note: These instructions allow you to do full builds of the project. In case you only want to build the project for development purposes, you can use the `dune` workflow.
+
+The ReScript project is built with a vendored version of `ninja`. It requires build files to correctly detect, compile and link all the OCaml files within our project. The build files are generated and managed by a NodeJS script (`./scripts/ninja.js`).
 
 ```sh
-npm install # install some JS tools for testing purposes
-./scripts/ninja.js config # the repo is build with Ninja. Generate the ninja build files
-./scripts/ninja.js build # runs `ninja` under the hood against the generated ninja build files
+# Generate all the necessary ninja build files
+./scripts/ninja.js config 
+
+# Run ninja to read and execute the generated build files
+./scripts/ninja.js build 
+
+# Clean (remove) all ninja build files
+./scripts/ninja.js clean
 ```
 
-Whenever you edit a file, run `./scripts/ninja.js build` to rebuild. Optional watcher to auto-rebuild on file changes: `node scripts/tasks.js`.
+Whenever you edit a file, run `./scripts/ninja.js build` to rebuild the ReScript compiler. There's also an optional watcher to auto-rebuild on file changes: `node scripts/tasks.js`.
+
+## Building the Project During Development (`dune` workflow) 
+
+When working on a project you may want to use `dune` to compile all the files you've been working on. This is especially important for full IDE support, including auto-completion and showing compilation errors.
+
+```
+# One off build
+dune build
+
+# Watch mode
+dune build -w
+```
 
-In the rare case there you're making changes to the vendored OCaml fork, rebuild the fork with `node scripts/buildocaml.js` then run `./scripts/ninja.js cleanbuild`. `cleanbuild` (aka `clean` + `build`) is necessary since the binary artifacts between versions of compiler may be incompatible.
+> Please note that `dune` will not build the final `rescript` binaries. Use the aforementioned `ninja` workflow if you want to build, test and distribute the final product.
 
 ### Troubleshoot Broken Build
 
diff --git a/dummy.opam b/dummy.opam
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/dune b/dune
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e4f11d99bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dune
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+(dirs jscomp)
diff --git a/dune-project b/dune-project
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ced758a39a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dune-project
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+(lang dune 2.0)
+ (name rescript) 
+ 
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/jscomp/dune b/jscomp/dune
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fc22f130cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jscomp/dune
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+(copy_files# ext/*.{ml,mli})
+(copy_files# ml/*.{ml,mli})
+(copy_files# napkin/*.{ml,mli})
+(copy_files# stubs/*.{ml,mli,c})
+(copy_files# js_parser/*.{ml,mli})
+(copy_files# depends/*.{ml,mli})
+(copy_files# common/*.{ml,mli})
+(copy_files# core/*.{ml,mli})
+(copy_files# frontend/*.{ml,mli})
+(copy_files# outcome_printer/*.{ml,mli})
+(copy_files# super_errors/*.{ml,mli})
+(copy_files# main/*.{ml,mli})
+(
+  executable
+    (public_name bsc.exe)
+
+    ; The main module that will become the binary.
+    (name Rescript_compiler_main)
+
+    (flags "-w" "+26+27+32+33+39")
+
+    ; Depends on:
+    (libraries unix str)
+
+    (modules_without_implementation Jscmj_main Lam_pass_unused_params Lam_runtime)
+    (foreign_stubs
+     (language c)
+     (names ext_basic_hash_stubs)
+     (flags )
+    )
+)
diff --git a/scripts/ninja.js b/scripts/ninja.js
index b6c95d940d..70cd175d81 100755
--- a/scripts/ninja.js
+++ b/scripts/ninja.js
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 var fs = require("fs");
 var path = require("path");
 var cp = require("child_process");
+var semver = require("semver");
 
 var jscompDir = path.join(__dirname, "..", "jscomp");
 var runtimeDir = path.join(jscompDir, "runtime");
@@ -34,6 +35,15 @@ var my_target =
 
 var vendorNinjaPath = path.join(__dirname, "..", my_target, "ninja.exe");
 
+// Let's enforce a Node version >= 16 to make sure M1 users don't trip up on
+// cryptic issues caused by mismatching assembly architectures Node 16 ships
+// with a native arm64 binary, and will set process.arch to "arm64" (instead of
+// Rosetta emulated "x86")
+if(semver.lt(process.version, "16.0.0")) {
+  console.error("Requires node version 16 or above... Abort.")
+  process.exit(1);
+}
+
 exports.vendorNinjaPath = vendorNinjaPath;
 /**
  * By default we use vendored,