diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 060f138..6882d00 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -103,6 +103,21 @@ ENVTEST ?= $(LOCALBIN)/setup-envtest
 GOLANGCI_LINT = $(LOCALBIN)/golangci-lint
 GINKGO ?= $(LOCALBIN)/ginkgo
 GOVULNCHECK ?= $(LOCALBIN)/govulncheck
+CLUSTERCTL ?= clusterctl
+
+## Local development (clusterctl) configuration
+DEV_KIND_CLUSTER ?= capcs-mgmt
+# example.invalid never resolves, so imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent can only use the kind-loaded image.
+DEV_IMG ?= example.invalid/capcs/manager:dev
+# Must match a release series in metadata.yaml (currently 1.0 / v1beta2).
+DEV_PROVIDER_VERSION ?= v1.0.99
+# clusterctl reads its overrides layer from $$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/cluster-api/overrides and falls back
+# to ~/.cluster-api/overrides when that directory does not exist. Careful: the XDG library clusterctl
+# uses resolves $$XDG_CONFIG_HOME to ~/Library/Application Support on macOS (NOT ~/.config), so the
+# home-dir fallback below is the location that behaves the same on Linux and macOS. Point
+# CLUSTERCTL_OVERRIDES_DIR at your XDG overrides dir if you deliberately keep one.
+CLUSTERCTL_OVERRIDES_DIR ?= $(HOME)/.cluster-api/overrides
+DEV_OVERRIDES_DIR := $(CLUSTERCTL_OVERRIDES_DIR)/infrastructure-cloudscale-ch-cloudscale/$(DEV_PROVIDER_VERSION)
 
 ##@ E2E Testing
 
@@ -346,30 +361,36 @@ release-manifests: build-installer ## Build all release artifacts into dist/ (in
 	cp templates/cluster-template*.yaml dist/
 	cp templates/cluster-class*.yaml dist/
 
-##@ Deployment
-
-ifndef ignore-not-found
-  ignore-not-found = false
-endif
-
-.PHONY: install
-install: manifests kustomize ## Install CRDs into the K8s cluster specified in ~/.kube/config.
-	@out="$$( "$(KUSTOMIZE)" build config/crd 2>/dev/null || true )"; \
-	if [ -n "$$out" ]; then echo "$$out" | "$(KUBECTL)" apply -f -; else echo "No CRDs to install; skipping."; fi
-
-.PHONY: uninstall
-uninstall: manifests kustomize ## Uninstall CRDs from the K8s cluster specified in ~/.kube/config. Call with ignore-not-found=true to ignore resource not found errors during deletion.
-	@out="$$( "$(KUSTOMIZE)" build config/crd 2>/dev/null || true )"; \
-	if [ -n "$$out" ]; then echo "$$out" | "$(KUBECTL)" delete --ignore-not-found=$(ignore-not-found) -f -; else echo "No CRDs to delete; skipping."; fi
-
-.PHONY: deploy
-deploy: manifests kustomize ## Deploy controller to the K8s cluster specified in ~/.kube/config.
-	cd config/manager && "$(KUSTOMIZE)" edit set image controller=${IMG}
-	"$(KUSTOMIZE)" build config/default | "$(KUBECTL)" apply -f -
-
-.PHONY: undeploy
-undeploy: kustomize ## Undeploy controller from the K8s cluster specified in ~/.kube/config. Call with ignore-not-found=true to ignore resource not found errors during deletion.
-	"$(KUSTOMIZE)" build config/default | "$(KUBECTL)" delete --ignore-not-found=$(ignore-not-found) -f -
+##@ Local development
+# These targets install CAPCS to a local kind cluster which gets created on the fly when invoking `dev-deploy`.
+
+.PHONY: dev-kind-cluster
+dev-kind-cluster: ## Create the dev kind management cluster if it does not exist.
+	@$(KIND) get clusters | grep -qx $(DEV_KIND_CLUSTER) || $(KIND) create cluster --name $(DEV_KIND_CLUSTER)
+
+.PHONY: dev-deploy
+dev-deploy: IMG = $(DEV_IMG)
+dev-deploy: docker-build release-manifests dev-kind-cluster ## Build image and install CAPCS into a local kind cluster via clusterctl's overrides layer (requires CLOUDSCALE_API_TOKEN).
+	git checkout -- config/manager/kustomization.yaml   # release-manifests/build-installer mutates this
+	$(KIND) load docker-image $(IMG) --name $(DEV_KIND_CLUSTER)
+	mkdir -p "$(DEV_OVERRIDES_DIR)"
+	cp dist/infrastructure-components.yaml dist/metadata.yaml dist/cluster-template*.yaml dist/cluster-class*.yaml "$(DEV_OVERRIDES_DIR)/"
+	$(KIND) export kubeconfig --name $(DEV_KIND_CLUSTER)
+	$(CLUSTERCTL) init --infrastructure cloudscale-ch-cloudscale:$(DEV_PROVIDER_VERSION)
+
+.PHONY: dev-redeploy
+dev-redeploy: IMG = $(DEV_IMG)
+dev-redeploy: docker-build ## Rebuild the manager image and restart CAPCS in the kind cluster.
+	$(KIND) load docker-image $(IMG) --name $(DEV_KIND_CLUSTER)
+	$(KUBECTL) -n capcs-system rollout restart deployment/capcs-controller-manager
+	$(KUBECTL) -n capcs-system rollout status deployment/capcs-controller-manager
+
+.PHONY: dev-clean
+dev-clean: ## Tear down the dev kind cluster and remove the dev provider overrides.
+	-$(KIND) delete cluster --name $(DEV_KIND_CLUSTER)
+	-rm -rf "$(DEV_OVERRIDES_DIR)"
+
+##@ Tooling
 
 ## Tool Versions
 KUSTOMIZE_VERSION ?= v5.8.1
diff --git a/docs/development.md b/docs/development.md
index 08c793b..d4f6d51 100644
--- a/docs/development.md
+++ b/docs/development.md
@@ -85,12 +85,10 @@ a kustomize overlay).
 
 ## Tilt
 
-The fastest inner loop is Cluster API's
-[Tilt setup](https://cluster-api.sigs.k8s.io/developer/core/tilt.html). It runs
-out of a local clone of [cluster-api](https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api),
-**not** out of this repository.
+The best way to develop CAPCS is using Cluster APIs [Tilt setup](https://cluster-api.sigs.k8s.io/developer/core/tilt.html). It runs
+out of a local clone of [cluster-api](https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api), **not** out of this repository.
 
-Drop a `tilt-settings.yaml` next to the cluster-api checkout:
+Drop a `tilt-settings.yaml` into the cluster-api directory:
 
 ```yaml
 default_registry: ""
@@ -131,7 +129,7 @@ template_dirs:
 #  - tempo
 ```
 
-Then `tilt up` from the cluster-api checkout.
+Then `tilt up` from the cluster-api directory.
 
 The `deploy_observability` block is processed by the cluster-api Tiltfile and
 brings up Prometheus, Grafana, Tempo, and friends in the management cluster;
@@ -141,6 +139,33 @@ for what each component does and how to reach the resulting UIs. CAPCS's
 enabled. For production metric/tracing setup, see
 [Observability](observability.md).
 
+## Deploying locally without Tilt
+
+For a quick manual check of a locally-built image, without pulling in the Tilt toolchain,
+deploy CAPCS against a `kind` cluster:
+
+```bash
+# create kind cluster and deploy cluster api and capcs with a locally built image
+make dev-deploy
+
+# re-deploy in case you made changes
+make dev-redeploy
+
+# clean up the kind cluster
+make dev-clean
+```
+
+By default `dev-deploy` writes clusterctl overrides to `~/.cluster-api/overrides` (`CLUSTERCTL_OVERRIDES_DIR`). That is
+the home-dir location clusterctl falls back to on both Linux and macOS. Note that
+clusterctl actually prefers `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/cluster-api/overrides` and only falls back
+to the home dir when that directory does **not** exist. 
+If you keep an XDG overrides directory (e.g. you exported
+`XDG_CONFIG_HOME`), point the targets at it:
+
+```bash
+make dev-deploy CLUSTERCTL_OVERRIDES_DIR="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/cluster-api/overrides"
+```
+
 ## Tests
 
 | Layer   | Location                                  | What it covers                                                                        |