diff --git a/create_admin.py b/create_admin.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d534c6696
--- /dev/null
+++ b/create_admin.py
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+import sys
+import os
+import django
+
+os.environ.setdefault("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE", "sapl.settings")
+django.setup()
+
+from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+
+def create_superuser():
+    username = "admin"
+    password = os.environ['ADMIN_PASSWORD'] if 'ADMIN_PASSWORD' in os.environ else None
+    email = os.environ['ADMIN_EMAIL'] if 'ADMIN_EMAIL' in os.environ else ''
+
+    if User.objects.filter(username=username).exists():
+        # print("[SUPERUSER] User %s already exists. Exiting without change." % username)
+        sys.exit('ADMIN_USER_EXISTS')
+    else:
+        if not password:
+            # print("[SUPERUSER] Environment variable $ADMIN_PASSWORD for user %s was not set. Leaving..." % username)
+            sys.exit('MISSING_ADMIN_PASSWORD')
+
+        print("[SUPERUSER] Creating superuser...")
+
+        u = User.objects.create_superuser(username=username, password=password, email=email)
+        u.save()
+
+        print("[SUPERUSER] Done.")
+
+        sys.exit(0)
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    create_superuser()
diff --git a/start.sh b/start.sh
index 0774b0e02..f421efa99 100755
--- a/start.sh
+++ b/start.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 
 create_env() {
+    echo "[ENV FILE] creating .env file..."
     # check if file exists
     if [ -f "/var/interlegis/sapl/data/secret.key" ]; then
         KEY=`cat /var/interlegis/sapl/data/secret.key`
@@ -10,7 +11,6 @@ create_env() {
         echo $KEY > data/secret.key
     fi
 
-    # TODO: rename env-test-bash to .env
     FILENAME="/var/interlegis/sapl/sapl/.env"
 
     if [ -z "${DATABASE_URL:-}" ]; then
@@ -34,11 +34,11 @@ create_env() {
     echo "EMAIL_HOST = ""${EMAIL_HOST-''}" >> $FILENAME
     echo "EMAIL_HOST_USER = ""${EMAIL_HOST_USER-''}" >> $FILENAME
     echo "EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD = ""${EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD-''}" >> $FILENAME
+
+    echo "[ENV FILE] done."
 }
 
-echo "creating .env file..."
 create_env
-echo "done."
 
 # # python3 gen-env.py
 
@@ -50,4 +50,18 @@ python3 manage.py migrate
 python3 manage.py collectstatic --no-input
 python3 manage.py rebuild_index --noinput
 
+user_created=$(python3 create_admin.py)
+
+echo $user_created
+
+#if [ $user_created -eq "ADMIN_USER_EXISTS" ]; then
+#    echo "[SUPERUSER CREATION] User admin already exists. Not creating"
+#fi
+
+#if [ $user_created -eq "MISSING_ADMIN_PASSWORD" ]; then
+#   echo "[SUPERUSER] Environment variable $ADMIN_PASSWORD for superuser admin was not set. Leaving container"
+   # return -1 # TODO: Uncomment when in finally in prod.
+#fi
+
+
 /bin/sh gunicorn_start.sh no-venv