diff --git a/backend/src/services/orchestrator.test.ts b/backend/src/services/orchestrator.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e8a5b6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/src/services/orchestrator.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import { describe, expect, test } from "bun:test";
+import { runCommand } from "./orchestrator";
+
+describe("runCommand", () => {
+	test("runs a command and returns stdout", async () => {
+		const result = await runCommand("echo", ["hello"]);
+		expect(result.stdout.trim()).toBe("hello");
+		expect(result.exitCode).toBe(0);
+	});
+
+	test("returns non-zero exit code on failure", async () => {
+		const result = await runCommand("false", []);
+		expect(result.exitCode).not.toBe(0);
+	});
+});
diff --git a/backend/src/services/orchestrator.ts b/backend/src/services/orchestrator.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..380e847
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/src/services/orchestrator.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+export interface CommandResult {
+	stdout: string;
+	stderr: string;
+	exitCode: number;
+}
+
+export async function runCommand(cmd: string, args: string[]): Promise<CommandResult> {
+	const proc = Bun.spawn([cmd, ...args], {
+		stdout: "pipe",
+		stderr: "pipe",
+	});
+
+	const stdout = await new Response(proc.stdout).text();
+	const stderr = await new Response(proc.stderr).text();
+	const exitCode = await proc.exited;
+
+	return { stdout, stderr, exitCode };
+}
+
+export async function syncMail(channelName: string): Promise<CommandResult> {
+	return runCommand("mbsync", [channelName]);
+}
+
+export async function indexMail(): Promise<CommandResult> {
+	return runCommand("notmuch", ["new"]);
+}
+
+export async function syncAndIndex(channelName: string): Promise<CommandResult> {
+	const syncResult = await syncMail(channelName);
+	if (syncResult.exitCode !== 0) {
+		return syncResult;
+	}
+	return indexMail();
+}