diff --git a/.DS_Store b/.DS_Store
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..20b1eee
Binary files /dev/null and b/.DS_Store differ
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f8dee5d..e2c0080 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -7,3 +7,19 @@ npm run dev
 # Start the server
 docker compose up --build
 ```
+
+## Localhost API Test
+
+After the API is running on port 8080, run this smoke test:
+
+```bash
+bash scripts/test_localhost.sh
+```
+
+If your API is running on a different host or port:
+
+```bash
+bash scripts/test_localhost.sh http://localhost:9000
+```
+
+The script sends a valid request to `POST /api/submit/exec-form` and fails with a non-zero exit code if the endpoint does not return a successful response.
diff --git a/scripts/test_localhost.sh b/scripts/test_localhost.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..502d239
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/test_localhost.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+BASE_URL="${1:-http://localhost:8080}"
+ENDPOINT="${BASE_URL%/}/api/submit/exec-form"
+
+PAYLOAD='{
+  "fullName": "Local Test User",
+  "email": "local.test@example.com",
+  "studentId": "12345678",
+  "yearOfStudy": "3",
+  "faculty": "Engineering",
+  "major": "Software Engineering",
+  "coopTerm": "no",
+  "firstChoiceTeam": "TECHNOLOGY",
+  "questions": {
+    "tech_q1": "I enjoy building backend services.",
+    "tech_q2": "I want to grow in API design.",
+    "tech_q3": "Python and FastAPI.",
+    "tech_q4": "I collaborate through pull requests and code reviews."
+  }
+}'
+
+TMP_BODY="$(mktemp)"
+trap 'rm -f "$TMP_BODY"' EXIT
+
+HTTP_CODE="$(curl -sS -o "$TMP_BODY" -w "%{http_code}" \
+  -X POST "$ENDPOINT" \
+  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
+  -d "$PAYLOAD")"
+
+BODY="$(cat "$TMP_BODY")"
+
+if [[ "$HTTP_CODE" != "200" ]]; then
+  echo "Localhost test failed: expected HTTP 200, got HTTP $HTTP_CODE"
+  echo "Endpoint: $ENDPOINT"
+  echo "Response body:"
+  echo "$BODY"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+if [[ "$BODY" != *'"message":"Submission received successfully"'* ]]; then
+  echo "Localhost test failed: success message not found in response"
+  echo "Endpoint: $ENDPOINT"
+  echo "Response body:"
+  echo "$BODY"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "Localhost test passed"
+echo "Endpoint: $ENDPOINT"
+echo "HTTP $HTTP_CODE"
+echo "$BODY"