diff --git a/payload/src/seed.ts b/payload/src/seed.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dd2061b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/payload/src/seed.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import { Payload } from "payload";
+import { User } from "./payload-types";
+
+export const seed = async (payload: Payload): Promise<void> => {
+  // Local API methods skip all access control by default
+  // so we can easily create an admin user directly in init
+  await payload.create<User>({
+    collection: 'users',
+    data: {
+      email: 'astro@ssg.js',
+      password: 'password',
+      roles: ['ssg']
+    }
+  })
+}
\ No newline at end of file