diff --git a/rwcal/etc/userdata-template b/rwcal/etc/userdata-template
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3195864
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rwcal/etc/userdata-template
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+#cloud-config
+
+# run commands
+# default: none
+# runcmd contains a list of either lists or a string
+# each item will be executed in order at rc.local like level with
+# output to the console
+# - if the item is a list, the items will be properly executed as if
+#   passed to execve(3) (with the first arg as the command).
+# - if the item is a string, it will be simply written to the file and
+#   will be interpreted by 'sh'
+#
+# Note, that the list has to be proper yaml, so you have to escape
+# any characters yaml would eat (':' can be problematic)
+runcmd:
+ - [ ls, -l, / ]
+
+salt_minion:
+  conf:
+    master: {master_ip}
+    id: {lxcname}
+    acceptance_wait_time: 1
+    recon_default: 100
+    recon_max: 1000
+    recon_randomize: False
+    log_level: debug
+
+# For some unknown reason, the minion sometimes does not start
+# (and doesn't even leave a log file).  Force a start just in case
+runcmd:
+ - echo Sleeping for 5 seconds and attempting to start minion
+ - sleep 5
+ - /bin/systemctl start salt-minion.service