diff --git a/freenit/project/.gitignore b/freenit/project/.gitignore
index 8ecb959..e9d0bcf 100644
--- a/freenit/project/.gitignore
+++ b/freenit/project/.gitignore
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ ansible/inventory/inventory
 ansible/roles/*
 ansible/site.yml
 !ansible/roles/.keep
+!ansible/roles/devel
 fstab
 project.mk
 site.retry
diff --git a/freenit/project/ansible/roles/devel/tasks/main.yml b/freenit/project/ansible/roles/devel/tasks/main.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9e6ec49
--- /dev/null
+++ b/freenit/project/ansible/roles/devel/tasks/main.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+- name: install devel packages
+  with_items: "{{ devel_packages }}"
+  pkgng:
+    name: "{{ item.name }}"
diff --git a/freenit/project/ansible/roles/devel/vars/main.yml b/freenit/project/ansible/roles/devel/vars/main.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8cee791
--- /dev/null
+++ b/freenit/project/ansible/roles/devel/vars/main.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+---
+python_major: 3
+python_minor: 7
+python_version: "{{ python_major }}.{{ python_minor }}"
+python_version_short: "{{ python_major }}{{ python_minor }}"
+python_prefix: "py{{ python_version_short }}"
+devel_packages:
+  - name: "{{ python_prefix }}-freenit"
+  - name: "{{ python_prefix }}-sqlite3"