diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 99f0cea..d846c70 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2,14 +2,14 @@ CHANNEL=stable
 ENV=dev
 
 clean:
-	rm -rf *.img *.model *.manifest
+	rm -rf *.img *.model *.manifest snaps
 
 %.model: boards/%.yaml # sign a model file
 	cat definition.yaml $< | python -c "import sys, yaml, json; json.dump(yaml.load(sys.stdin), sys.stdout, indent=2)" | sed "s|TIMESTAMP|$(shell date -Iseconds --utc)|g" | snap sign -k default > $@
 snaps/%:
 	node build-tool.js --env $(ENV) --channel $(CHANNEL) --board $*
 %.img: %.model snaps/% # build an image
-	sudo ubuntu-image snap -o $@ -c $(CHANNEL) $<
+	sudo ubuntu-image snap -o $@ --cloud-init $(ENV).cloud-init.yaml -c $(CHANNEL) $<
 
 # VM stuff
 
diff --git a/build-tool.js b/build-tool.js
index 018be25..3a69152 100644
--- a/build-tool.js
+++ b/build-tool.js
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ const isDev = env === 'dev'
 const forceBuild = isDev
 
 const deps = yaml.safeLoad(read('deps/' + board + '.yaml'))
+const common = yaml.safeLoad(read('deps/common.yaml'))
 const boardDef = yaml.safeLoad(read('boards/' + board + '.yaml'))
 
 const exec = (cmd, dir, ...args) => new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
@@ -48,20 +49,23 @@ async function snapcraft (folder, outFile, targetArch) {
 async function pullOrClone (repo, dest, checkout) {
   let currentCommit = ''
   if (fs.existsSync(dest)) {
-    await exec('git', dest, 'remote', 'update', '--recurse-submodules=yes', '-p')
+    await exec('git', dest, 'remote', 'update', '-p')
   } else {
     await exec('git', process.cwd(), 'clone', '--recursive', repo, dest)
     currentCommit = String(execWithOutput('git', '-C', dest, 'rev-parse', '--verify', 'HEAD').stdout)
   }
   await exec('git', dest, 'checkout', checkout)
+  await exec('git', dest, 'submodule', 'init', '.')
+  await exec('git', dest, 'submodule', 'update')
   let newCommit = String(execWithOutput('git', '-C', dest, 'rev-parse', '--verify', 'HEAD').stdout)
 
   return currentCommit !== newCommit // returns bool if snap need recompilation
 }
 
 async function main () {
-  for (const snapName in deps.snaps) { // eslint-disable-line guard-for-in
-    const snap = deps.snaps[snapName]
+  const snaps = Object.assign(deps.snaps, common.snaps)
+  for (const snapName in snaps) { // eslint-disable-line guard-for-in
+    const snap = snaps[snapName]
     if (snap.mustBuild || forceBuild) {
       console.log('Building %s...', snapName)
 
diff --git a/definition.yaml b/definition.yaml
index 57f0881..5ce759e 100644
--- a/definition.yaml
+++ b/definition.yaml
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ model: ppl-hub
 # snaps to be preinstalled:
 required-snaps:
  - nextcloud # just for proof-of-concept
+ - snapweb
 # authority meta
 authority-id: 7xN2sMCILuFk10e6DxrTrQWprdmV0Vi9
 brand-id: 7xN2sMCILuFk10e6DxrTrQWprdmV0Vi9
diff --git a/deps/common.yaml b/deps/common.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bbf6a94
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deps/common.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+snaps:
diff --git a/dev.cloud-init.yaml b/dev.cloud-init.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29