diff --git a/.github/workflows/go-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/go-tests.yml
index 148c60de..9f8d82a9 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/go-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/go-tests.yml
@@ -30,10 +30,8 @@ jobs:
         with:
           go-version: 'stable'
       - uses: actions/checkout@v3
-      - uses: golangci/golangci-lint-action@v3
-        with:
-          skip-cache: true
-          args: --timeout=8m --build-tags testing
+      - name: make lint
+        run: make golangci-lint && GOLANGCI_LINT_EXTRA_ARGS="--timeout=1m --build-tags testing" make lint
       - name: Verify go vendor, go modules and gofmt
         run: |
           sudo apt-get install -y jq
diff --git a/.golangci.yml b/.golangci.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e9004a23
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.golangci.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
+linters:
+  disable-all: true
+  fast: false
+  enable:
+    - gci
+    - goconst
+    - gocritic
+    - gocyclo
+    - gofmt
+    - gofumpt
+    - goimports
+    - godox
+    - govet
+    - gosec
+    - gosimple
+    - importas
+    - ineffassign
+    - loggercheck
+    - misspell
+    - nakedret
+    - nilerr
+    - predeclared
+    - promlinter
+    - revive
+    - staticcheck
+    - unconvert
+    - unused
+    - wastedassign
+    - whitespace
+
+linters-settings:
+  gci:
+    sections:
+      - standard
+      - default
+      - prefix(github.com/cloudbase/garm)
+
+  goimports:
+    local-prefixes: github.com/cloudbase/garm
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 74c09dc0..3a883f4c 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -10,47 +10,48 @@ VERSION ?= $(shell git describe --tags --match='v[0-9]*' --dirty --always)
 GARM_REF ?= $(shell git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)
 GO ?= go
 
+.PHONY: help
+help: ## Display this help.
+	@awk 'BEGIN {FS = ":.*##"; printf "\nUsage:\n  make \033[36m<target>\033[0m\n"} /^[a-zA-Z_0-9-]+:.*?##/ { printf "  \033[36m%-20s\033[0m %s\n", $$1, $$2 } /^##@/ { printf "\n\033[1m%s\033[0m\n", substr($$0, 5) } ' $(MAKEFILE_LIST)
+
 
 default: build
 
+##@ Build
+
 .PHONY : build-static test install-lint-deps lint go-test fmt fmtcheck verify-vendor verify create-release-files release
-build-static:
+build-static: ## Build garm statically
 	@echo Building garm
 	docker build --tag $(IMAGE_TAG) -f Dockerfile.build-static .
 	docker run --rm -e USER_ID=$(USER_ID) -e GARM_REF=$(GARM_REF) -e USER_GROUP=$(USER_GROUP) -v $(PWD)/build:/build/output:z $(IMAGE_TAG) /build-static.sh
 	@echo Binaries are available in $(PWD)/build
 
-create-release-files:
-	./scripts/make-release.sh
-
-release: build-static create-release-files
-
-clean:
+clean: ## Clean up build artifacts
 	@rm -rf ./bin ./build ./release
 
-build:
+build: ## Build garm
 	@echo Building garm ${VERSION}
 	$(shell mkdir -p ./bin)
 	@$(GO) build -ldflags "-s -w -X main.Version=${VERSION}" -tags osusergo,netgo,sqlite_omit_load_extension -o bin/garm ./cmd/garm
 	@$(GO) build -ldflags "-s -w -X github.com/cloudbase/garm/cmd/garm-cli/cmd.Version=${VERSION}" -tags osusergo,netgo,sqlite_omit_load_extension -o bin/garm-cli ./cmd/garm-cli
 	@echo Binaries are available in $(PWD)/bin
 
-test: verify go-test
+test: verify go-test ## Run tests
 
-install-lint-deps:
-	@$(GO) install github.com/golangci/golangci-lint/cmd/golangci-lint@latest
+##@ Release
+create-release-files:
+	./scripts/make-release.sh
 
-lint:
-	@golangci-lint run --timeout=8m --build-tags testing
+release: build-static create-release-files ## Create a release
 
-go-test:
-	@$(GO) test -race -mod=vendor -tags testing -v $(TEST_ARGS) -timeout=15m -parallel=4 -count=1 ./...
+##@ Lint / Verify
+.PHONY: lint
+lint: golangci-lint $(GOLANGCI_LINT) ## Run linting.
+	$(GOLANGCI_LINT) run -v $(GOLANGCI_LINT_EXTRA_ARGS)
 
-fmt:
-	@$(GO) fmt $$(go list ./...)
-
-fmtcheck:
-	@gofmt -l -s $$(go list ./... | sed 's|github.com/cloudbase/garm/||g') | grep ".*\.go"; if [ "$$?" -eq 0 ]; then echo "gofmt check failed; please run gofmt -w -s"; exit 1;fi
+.PHONY: lint-fix
+lint-fix: golangci-lint $(GOLANGCI_LINT) ## Lint the codebase and run auto-fixers if supported by the linte
+	GOLANGCI_LINT_EXTRA_ARGS=--fix $(MAKE) lint
 
 verify-vendor: ## verify if all the go.mod/go.sum files are up-to-date
 	$(eval TMPDIR := $(shell mktemp -d))
@@ -59,4 +60,32 @@ verify-vendor: ## verify if all the go.mod/go.sum files are up-to-date
 	@diff -r -u -q ${ROOTDIR} ${TMPDIR}/garm >/dev/null 2>&1; if [ "$$?" -ne 0 ];then echo "please run: go mod tidy && go mod vendor"; exit 1; fi
 	@rm -rf ${TMPDIR}
 
-verify: verify-vendor lint fmtcheck
+verify: verify-vendor lint fmtcheck ## Run all verify-* targets
+
+##@ Development
+
+go-test: ## Run tests
+	@$(GO) test -race -mod=vendor -tags testing -v $(TEST_ARGS) -timeout=15m -parallel=4 -count=1 ./...
+
+fmt: ## Run go fmt against code.
+	@$(GO) fmt $$(go list ./...)
+
+
+##@ Build Dependencies
+
+## Location to install dependencies to
+LOCALBIN ?= $(shell pwd)/bin
+$(LOCALBIN):
+	mkdir -p $(LOCALBIN)
+
+## Tool Binaries
+GOLANGCI_LINT ?= $(LOCALBIN)/golangci-lint
+
+## Tool Versions
+GOLANGCI_LINT_VERSION ?= v1.55.2
+
+.PHONY: golangci-lint
+golangci-lint: $(GOLANGCI_LINT) ## Download golangci-lint locally if necessary. If wrong version is installed, it will be overwritten.
+$(GOLANGCI_LINT): $(LOCALBIN)
+	test -s $(LOCALBIN)/golangci-lint && $(LOCALBIN)/golangci-lint --version | grep -q $(GOLANGCI_LINT_VERSION) || \
+	GOBIN=$(LOCALBIN) go install github.com/golangci/golangci-lint/cmd/golangci-lint@$(GOLANGCI_LINT_VERSION)