diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 9386033b..36b5110c 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ install: ## Install the dependencies
 
 .PHONY: develop
 develop: ## Install the test and dev dependencies
-	python3 -m pip install -e .[test,dev]
+	python3 -m pip install -e .[test,dev,sync]
 	playwright install
 
 .PHONY: format
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index abe266ab..665d6a8d 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -34,13 +34,11 @@ dependencies = [
   "django-probes==1.7.0",
   "Pillow==11.0.0",
   "psycopg==3.2.3",
-  "pydantic==2.9.2",
   "requests==2.32.3",
   "rcssmin==1.1.3",
   "rjsmin==1.2.3",
   "social-auth-core==4.5.4",
   "social-auth-app-django==5.4.2",
-  "websockets==13.1",
 ]
 
 [project.optional-dependencies]
@@ -67,6 +65,12 @@ test = [
 docker = [
   "uwsgi==2.0.27",
 ]
+sync = [
+  "channels==4.1.0",
+  "daphne==4.1.2",
+  "pydantic==2.9.2",
+  "websockets==13.1",
+]
 
 [project.scripts]
 umap = "umap.bin:main"
diff --git a/umap/asgi.py b/umap/asgi.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2ca12ddc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/umap/asgi.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import os
+
+from channels.routing import ProtocolTypeRouter
+from django.core.asgi import get_asgi_application
+
+os.environ.setdefault("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE", "umap.settings")
+# Initialize Django ASGI application early to ensure the AppRegistry
+# is populated before importing code that may import ORM models.
+django_asgi_app = get_asgi_application()
+
+application = ProtocolTypeRouter(
+    {
+        "http": django_asgi_app,
+    }
+)
diff --git a/umap/settings/base.py b/umap/settings/base.py
index 73a1bf71..c00ef253 100644
--- a/umap/settings/base.py
+++ b/umap/settings/base.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ env = environ.Env()
 INTERNAL_IPS = env.list("INTERNAL_IPS", default=["127.0.0.1"])
 ALLOWED_HOSTS = env.list("ALLOWED_HOSTS", default=["*"])
 ADMINS = tuple(parseaddr(email) for email in env.list("ADMINS", default=[]))
-
+ASGI_APPLICATION = "umap.asgi.application"
 
 DEBUG = env.bool("DEBUG", default=False)