diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index e77bbb1..5dd4542 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+0.40 2014-09-03
+        - [feature] Skeleton for standalone REST service (diewald)
+
 0.33 2014-09-01
         - [feature] SpanSubspanQuery (margaretha)
         - [feature] SpanExpansionQuery (margaretha)
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index f163d4f..6558887 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 -->
   <groupId>KorAP-modules</groupId>
   <artifactId>KorAP-lucene-index</artifactId>
-  <version>0.33</version>
+  <version>0.40</version>
   <packaging>jar</packaging>
 
   <name>KorAP-lucene-index</name>
@@ -28,12 +28,31 @@
       <email>diewald@ids-mannheim.de</email>
       <url>http://nils-diewald.de</url>
     </developer>
+
+    <developer>
+      <name>Eliza Margaretha</name>
+      <email>margaretha@ids-mannheim.de</email>
+    </developer>
+
   </developers>
 
   <properties>
+    <jersey.version>2.4.1</jersey.version>
     <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
   </properties>
 
+  <dependencyManagement>
+    <dependencies>
+      <dependency>
+        <groupId>org.glassfish.jersey</groupId>
+        <artifactId>jersey-bom</artifactId>
+        <version>${jersey.version}</version>
+        <type>pom</type>
+        <scope>import</scope>
+      </dependency>
+    </dependencies>
+  </dependencyManagement>
+
   <dependencies>
 
     <!-- junit dependency -->
@@ -57,6 +76,7 @@
     </dependency>
 
     <!-- solr dependency -->
+    <!--
     <dependency>
       <artifactId>solr-core</artifactId>
       <groupId>org.apache.solr</groupId>
@@ -70,7 +90,7 @@
       <groupId>org.apache.solr</groupId>
       <version>4.3.1</version>
     </dependency>
-
+    -->
     
     <!-- Lucene core dependency -->
     <dependency>
@@ -110,21 +130,32 @@
     </dependency>
 
     <!-- servlet dependency -->
+    <!--
     <dependency>
       <artifactId>servlet-api</artifactId>
       <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
       <version>2.5</version>
     </dependency>
-    
-    <!-- among others Base4 support -->
-    <!--
-    <dependency>
-      <groupId>commons-codec</groupId>
-      <artifactId>commons-codec</artifactId>
-      <version>1.4</version>
-    </dependency>
     -->
 
+    <!-- Jersey -->
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.glassfish.jersey.containers</groupId>
+      <artifactId>jersey-container-grizzly2-http</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
+
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>com.sun.jersey.contribs</groupId>
+      <artifactId>jersey-freemarker</artifactId>
+      <version>1.13-b01</version>
+    </dependency>
+
+    <!-- JSON support -->
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.glassfish.jersey.media</groupId>
+      <artifactId>jersey-media-moxy</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
+
     <!-- Jackson -->
     <!-- see https://github.com/FasterXML/jackson-core -->
     <!-- https://github.com/FasterXML/jackson-databind -->
@@ -151,7 +182,8 @@
     <plugins>
       <plugin>
 	<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
-	<version>2.3.2</version>
+	<version>2.5.1</version>
+	<inherited>true</inherited>
 	<configuration>
 	  <source>1.7</source>
 	  <target>1.7</target>
@@ -219,6 +251,23 @@
 	  </excludes>
         </configuration>
       </plugin> 
+
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
+        <artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+        <version>1.2.1</version>
+        <executions>
+          <execution>
+            <goals>
+              <goal>java</goal>
+            </goals>
+          </execution>
+        </executions>
+        <configuration>
+          <mainClass>de.ids_mannheim.korap.KorapNode</mainClass>
+        </configuration>
+      </plugin>
+
     </plugins>
 
     <resources>
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/KorapNode.java b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/KorapNode.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1155cae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/KorapNode.java
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+package de.ids_mannheim.korap;
+
+import org.glassfish.grizzly.http.server.HttpServer;
+import org.glassfish.jersey.grizzly2.httpserver.GrizzlyHttpServerFactory;
+import org.glassfish.jersey.server.ResourceConfig;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.URI;
+
+/**
+ * Standalone REST-Service for the Lucene Search Backend.
+ *
+ * @author Nils Diewald
+ */
+public class KorapNode {
+
+    // Base URI the Grizzly HTTP server will listen on
+    public static final String BASE_URI = "http://localhost:8080/";
+
+    /**
+     * Starts Grizzly HTTP server exposing JAX-RS resources defined in this application.
+     * @return Grizzly HTTP server.
+     */
+    public static HttpServer startServer() {
+        // create a resource config that scans for JAX-RS resources and providers
+        // in de.ids_mannheim.korap.server package
+        final ResourceConfig rc = new ResourceConfig().packages("de.ids_mannheim.korap.server");
+
+        // create and start a new instance of grizzly http server
+        // exposing the Jersey application at BASE_URI
+        return GrizzlyHttpServerFactory.createHttpServer(URI.create(BASE_URI), rc);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Main method.
+     * @param args
+     * @throws IOException
+     */
+    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
+        final HttpServer server = startServer();
+        System.out.println("KorapNode started\nHit enter to stop it...");
+	// WADL available at BASE_URI + application.wadl
+        System.in.read();
+        server.stop();
+    }
+}
+
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/server/Ping.java b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/server/Ping.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ebaba96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/server/Ping.java
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+package de.ids_mannheim.korap.server;
+
+import javax.ws.rs.GET;
+import javax.ws.rs.Path;
+import javax.ws.rs.Produces;
+import javax.ws.rs.core.MediaType;
+
+/**
+ * A useful ping service.
+ *
+ * @author Nils Diewald
+ */
+@Path("ping")
+public class Ping {
+    @GET
+    @Produces(MediaType.TEXT_PLAIN)
+    public String getIt() {
+        return "Gimme 5 minutes, please!";
+    };
+};
diff --git a/src/test/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/server/PingTest.java b/src/test/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/server/PingTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..12fad2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/server/PingTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+package de.ids_mannheim.korap.server;
+
+import javax.ws.rs.client.Client;
+import javax.ws.rs.client.ClientBuilder;
+import javax.ws.rs.client.WebTarget;
+
+import org.glassfish.grizzly.http.server.HttpServer;
+
+import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+
+import de.ids_mannheim.korap.KorapNode;
+
+public class PingTest {
+
+    private HttpServer server;
+    private WebTarget target;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() throws Exception {
+        // start the server
+        server = KorapNode.startServer();
+        // create the client
+        Client c = ClientBuilder.newClient();
+
+        // uncomment the following line if you want to enable
+        // support for JSON in the client (you also have to uncomment
+        // dependency on jersey-media-json module in pom.xml and Main.startServer())
+        // --
+        // c.configuration().enable(new org.glassfish.jersey.media.json.JsonJaxbFeature());
+
+        target = c.target(KorapNode.BASE_URI);
+    }
+
+    @After
+    public void tearDown() throws Exception {
+        server.stop();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Test to see that the message "Gimme 5 minutes, please!" is sent in the response.
+     */
+    @Test
+    public void testPing() {
+        String responseMsg = target.path("ping").request().get(String.class);
+        assertEquals("Gimme 5 minutes, please!", responseMsg);
+    }
+}