diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 7d281ceb..9ae69fe1 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -62,3 +62,6 @@ test.db*
 
 # don't check in NCBI data
 ncbi/
+
+# compiled static files
+static/
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 768660c4..af72f92e 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ clean-pyc:
 
 clean-js:
 	rm -rf src/edge/static/edge/lib/*
-	rm -vf src/edge/static/edge/edge{.css,.html,.js,.min.js,_jst.js}
+	rm -rvf src/edge/static/edge/assets/*
 
 
 # Testing
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index a21acff9..533da5dc 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -34,27 +34,37 @@ Try it using Docker
 -------------------
 * Use ``docker-compose``:
 
-To start edge server:
+To start the edge server:
+
 ::
-    
+
     docker-compose up
-Then check it out in your browser: http://localhost:9000/edge/#/genomes
-To import an genome using:
+
+Then check it out in your browser: http://localhost:9000/edge/#/genomes .
+
+To import a genome, use:
+
 ::
+
     docker-compose run edge python src/manage.py import_gff 'Saccharomyces cerevisiae' example/sc_s288c.gff
-To run a shell inside the edge container
+
+To run a shell inside the Edge container:
+
 ::
+
     docker-compose run --rm edge bash
 
 * Alternatively, you can use the ``Makefile``:
 
 To start edge server:
+
 ::
 
     make start-ext
 
 
-To import an genome as an example:
+To import a genome as an example:
+
 ::
 
     make add-s288c-ext
@@ -66,11 +76,10 @@ trying to rebuild the image.
 The ``Makefile`` holds all the commands necessary for managing the server and
 database, both in usage and development. Run ``make`` without arguments to see a list of commmands.
 
-The Docker environment is defined in ``docker-compose.yml``. Ese the ``edge`` service for your
+The Docker environment is defined in ``docker-compose.yml``. Use the ``edge`` service for your
 commands.
 
-Of course, any of these ``make`` targets can be run directly from a shell inside a container from
-either service:
+Any of these ``make`` targets can be run directly from a shell inside a container:
 
 ::
 
@@ -125,10 +134,9 @@ Then, to set up the edge BLAST db, from the ``src`` subdirectory,
 Editing data
 ------------
 
-You can edit genome and fragment metadata, such as name, notes, circular
-attributes, from the Django admin. Create a Django admin superuser, (see the ``superuser`` make
-target), then set your browser to the ``/admin/`` endpoint of wherever you are running your dev
-server.
+You can edit genome and fragment metadata, such as name, notes, circular attributes, from the Django
+admin. Create a Django admin superuser, (see the ``superuser`` make target), then set your browser
+to the ``/admin/`` endpoint of wherever you are running your dev server.
 
 
 Deploying to production
@@ -138,7 +146,8 @@ Do *not* use the Dockerfile as-is for production, or the ``make run`` task. Djan
 command is not meant to run a production server. Instead, you'll need to spin up a production WSGI
 server and run the Django projct with that, with your own settings. In this situation, it's better
 to simply install the ``edge-genome`` python package on your deployed system and add it to your
-deployment Django server's ``installed_apps`` setting.
+deployment Django server's ``installed_apps`` setting. The package is designed so that, when built,
+it already contains all of the javascript assets compiled in their final state.
 
 
 Development, testing, and package release
@@ -147,6 +156,14 @@ Development, testing, and package release
 When developing locally, you can run tests in the controlled environment of the docker container
 from your local machine with ``make test-ext.``
 
+Note that edge uses webassets_ for compilation of static assets. These assets are not automatically
+compiled (because the integration of that with Django is flaky). Instead, compile assets after
+cahnging them with ``make build_assets``.
+
+Static dependencies are managed with Bower_. (Eventually to be replaced with npm_/webpack_).
+Dependencies are downloaded before the python package is built so python package consumers already
+have all required javascript.
+
 Edge is versioned semantically. Continuous integration is done automatically on all branches through
 Travis CI, and tagged commits to master are automatically released to PyPI. To release a new version,
 bump the version number with the appropriate severity of the changes (major, minor, or patch), and
@@ -158,3 +175,8 @@ push the resulting tagged commits to the GitHub remote repo:
     you@localhost:edge$ git push --tags origin master
 
 If you cannot push to master directly, do the same thing on a new branch and submit a pull request.
+
+.. _webassets: https://webassets.readthedocs.io/
+.. _Bower: https://bower.io/
+.. _npm: https://npmjs.org/
+.. _webpack: https://webpack.js.org/
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 9caa4027..1e6301d1 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ services:
       MYSQL_DATABASE: edge_dev
     volumes:
       - edge-db-data:/var/lib/mysql
-  
+
   rabbit:
     image: rabbitmq
 
diff --git a/requirements-core.txt b/requirements-core.txt
index 986bcbc7..5e527a71 100644
--- a/requirements-core.txt
+++ b/requirements-core.txt
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ flower==0.9.1
 bcbio-gff == 0.4
 
 # Web assets
-django_assets == 0.8
+django_assets == 0.12
 jsmin == 2.0.9
 
 numpy == 1.12.1
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 59a81173..eecb61e2 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -2,13 +2,28 @@
 from __future__ import print_function
 
 import os
-from subprocess import check_output, STDOUT
+import sys
+from subprocess import (
+    CalledProcessError,
+    STDOUT,
+    check_output,
+)
 
 from setuptools import setup, find_packages, Command
 from setuptools.command.sdist import sdist
 
 
-class BowerInstallCommand(Command):
+class SubproccessCommand(Command):
+    def _run_with_output(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        try:
+            print(check_output(*args, **kwargs))
+        except CalledProcessError as e:
+            print(e.output, file=sys.stderr)
+
+            raise e
+
+
+class BowerInstallCommand(SubproccessCommand):
     description = 'run bower commands [install by default]'
     user_options = [
         ('bower-command=', 'c', 'Bower command to run. Defaults to "install".'),
@@ -35,10 +50,10 @@ def run(self):
             cmd.append('-p')
         if self.allow_root:
             cmd.append('--allow-root')
-        print(check_output(cmd, stderr=STDOUT))
+        self._run_with_output(cmd, stderr=STDOUT)
 
 
-class BuildAssetsCommand(Command):
+class BuildAssetsCommand(SubproccessCommand):
     description = 'build django assets'
     user_options = []
 
@@ -50,7 +65,8 @@ def finalize_options(self):
 
     def run(self):
         src_dir = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'src')
-        print(check_output(['python', 'manage.py', 'assets', 'build'], cwd=src_dir, stderr=STDOUT))
+        self._run_with_output(['python', 'manage.py', 'assets', 'build'],
+                              cwd=src_dir, stderr=STDOUT)
 
 
 class SdistCommandWithJS(sdist):
@@ -109,7 +125,7 @@ def run(self):
     zip_safe=True,
 
     setup_requires=[
-        'django_assets',
+        'django_assets >= 0.12',
     ],
     install_requires=[
         'django ~= 1.11.6',
diff --git a/src/.gitignore b/src/.gitignore
index 080600fb..0da89660 100644
--- a/src/.gitignore
+++ b/src/.gitignore
@@ -1,7 +1,4 @@
 db.sqlite3*
 test.db*
 .webassets-cache
-edge/static/edge/edge.css
-edge/static/edge/edge.js
-edge/static/edge/edge.min.js
-edge/static/edge/edge_jst.js
+edge/static/edge/assets/
diff --git a/src/edge/assets.py b/src/edge/assets.py
index dbccd9d6..22521b3a 100644
--- a/src/edge/assets.py
+++ b/src/edge/assets.py
@@ -1,13 +1,17 @@
 from django_assets import Bundle, register
 
-js = Bundle('edge/src/js/*.js', filters='jsmin', output='edge/static/edge/edge.min.js')
+js = Bundle('edge/static/edge/src/js/*.js',
+            output='edge/static/edge/assets/edge.js')
 register('edge_js', js)
 
-js = Bundle('edge/src/js/*.js', output='edge/static/edge/edge.js')
-register('edge', js)
+jsmin = Bundle(js, filters='jsmin',
+               output='edge/static/edge/assets/edge.min.js')
+register('edge_jsmin', jsmin)
 
-css = Bundle('edge/src/css/app.css', output='edge/static/edge/edge.css')
+css = Bundle('edge/static/edge/src/css/app.css',
+             output='edge/static/edge/assets/edge.css')
 register('edge_css', css)
 
-jst = Bundle('edge/src/partials/*.html', filters='jst', output='edge/static/edge/edge_jst.js')
+jst = Bundle('edge/static/edge/src/partials/*.html', filters='jst',
+             output='edge/static/edge/assets/edge_jst.js')
 register('edge_jst', jst)
diff --git a/src/edge/templates/edge/edge.html b/src/edge/templates/edge/edge.html
index 4281f38b..8fa224f9 100644
--- a/src/edge/templates/edge/edge.html
+++ b/src/edge/templates/edge/edge.html
@@ -18,10 +18,10 @@
     <!-- svjs -->
     <script src="{% static 'edge/lib/svjs/svjs.js' %}"></script>
     <link rel="stylesheet" href="{% static 'edge/lib/svjs/svjs.css' %}">
-    <!-- edge stuff -->
-    <script src="{% static 'edge/edge_jst.js' %}"></script>
-    <script src="{% static 'edge/edge.js' %}"></script>
-    <link rel="stylesheet" href="{% static 'edge/edge.css' %}">
+    <!-- compiled assets -->
+    <script src="{% static 'edge/assets/edge_jst.js' %}"></script>
+    <script src="{% static 'edge/assets/edge.js' %}"></script>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" href="{% static 'edge/assets/edge.css' %}">
 </head>
 <body>
 
diff --git a/src/edge/urls.py b/src/edge/urls.py
index c848311a..0e0c352d 100644
--- a/src/edge/urls.py
+++ b/src/edge/urls.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
     # we have to add a redirect from the static page to the /ui/ URL, for any
     # browser that have the redirect memorized.
 
-    url(r'^/?$', TemplateView.as_view(template_name='edge/edge.html'), name='edge-ui'),
+    url(r'^$', TemplateView.as_view(template_name='edge/edge.html'), name='edge-ui'),
     url(r'^ui/?$', TemplateView.as_view(template_name='edge/edge.html')),
 
     # APIs
diff --git a/src/server/settings.py b/src/server/settings.py
index 2b0268f1..d92997cb 100644
--- a/src/server/settings.py
+++ b/src/server/settings.py
@@ -8,8 +8,10 @@
 https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.6/ref/settings/
 """
 
-# Build paths inside the project like this: os.path.join(BASE_DIR, ...)
+import sys
 import os
+
+# Build paths inside the project like this: os.path.join(BASE_DIR, ...)
 BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(__file__))
 
 # Quick-start development settings - unsuitable for production
@@ -21,11 +23,9 @@
 # SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
 DEBUG = True
 
-TEMPLATE_DEBUG = True
 
 ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['*']
 
-import sys
 TESTING = sys.argv[1:2] == ['test']
 
 # for Django Celery
@@ -35,7 +35,25 @@
 CELERY_SEND_TASK_SENT_EVENT = True
 
 if TESTING:
-  CELERY_ALWAYS_EAGER = True  # skip the daemon
+    CELERY_ALWAYS_EAGER = True  # skip the daemon
+
+# Tempalte loaders
+TEMPLATES = [{
+    'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
+    'APP_DIRS': True,
+    'OPTIONS': {
+        'debug': DEBUG,
+        'context_processors': [
+            'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
+            'django.template.context_processors.debug',
+            'django.template.context_processors.media',
+            'django.template.context_processors.static',
+            'django.template.context_processors.tz',
+            'django.template.context_processors.request',
+            'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
+        ],
+    },
+}]
 
 # Application definition
 
@@ -57,7 +75,7 @@
 MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES = (
     'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
     'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
-    #'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
+    # 'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
     'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
     'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
     'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
@@ -78,12 +96,14 @@
     },
     'mysql': {
         'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
-        'OPTIONS': { "init_command": "SET storage_engine=INNODB;" },
-        'HOST': os.getenv("DB_HOST", ""),
-        'PORT': "",
-        'NAME': os.getenv("DB_NAME", ""),
-        'USER': os.getenv("DB_USER", ""),
-        'PASSWORD': os.getenv('DB_PASSWORD', ""),
+        'OPTIONS': {
+            'init_command': "SET storage_engine=INNODB; SET sql_mode='STRICT_TRANS_TABLES';"
+        },
+        'HOST': os.getenv('DB_HOST', ''),
+        'PORT': '',
+        'NAME': os.getenv('DB_NAME', ''),
+        'USER': os.getenv('DB_USER', ''),
+        'PASSWORD': os.getenv('DB_PASSWORD', ''),
         'ATOMIC_REQUESTS': True,
     }
 }
@@ -111,10 +131,23 @@
 
 
 # Static files (CSS, JavaScript, Images)
-# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.6/howto/static-files/
 
 STATIC_URL = '/static/'
 
+# Files compiled with django's assets go in the static directory in the project root
+STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(BASE_DIR), 'static')
+
+STATICFILES_FINDERS = (
+   'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.FileSystemFinder',
+   'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.AppDirectoriesFinder',
+   # XXX We do not automatically use django-assets finder here, as it is buggy.
+   # Instead, we use staticfiles for everything, and manually manage compilation of webassests
+   # via `setup.py build_assets`, or the `manage.py assets build`
+)
+
+# All django-assets paths in apps' assets.py files are relative to BASE_DIR
+ASSETS_ROOT = BASE_DIR
+
 LOGGING = {
     'version': 1,
     'disable_existing_loggers': False,
@@ -130,7 +163,7 @@
         }
     },
     'loggers': {
-        #'django.db.backends': { 'level': 'DEBUG', 'handlers': ['console'], },
+        # 'django.db.backends': { 'level': 'DEBUG', 'handlers': ['console'], },
     },
 }
 
@@ -146,6 +179,6 @@
 
 
 NOSE_ARGS = [
-  '--with-coverage',
-  '--cover-package=edge',
+    '--with-coverage',
+    '--cover-package=edge',
 ]