diff --git a/.eslintrc.json b/.eslintrc.json
index d48a31a1f..56a15a0a3 100644
--- a/.eslintrc.json
+++ b/.eslintrc.json
@@ -36,13 +36,14 @@
       }
     }
   },
-  "plugins": ["@typescript-eslint", "sonarjs", "etc", "redundant-undefined"],
   "ignorePatterns": [
     "node_modules/**",
     "**/dist/**"
   ],
+  "plugins": ["@typescript-eslint", "sonarjs", "etc", "redundant-undefined", "no-null"],
   "rules": {
-    "@typescript-eslint/no-unused-vars": "error",
+    "eqeqeq": "error",
+    "@typescript-eslint/no-unused-vars": ["error", { "argsIgnorePattern": "^_" }],
     "@typescript-eslint/no-var-requires": "off",
     "@typescript-eslint/consistent-type-imports": "error",
     "@typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any": "error",
@@ -51,6 +52,7 @@
     "@typescript-eslint/no-floating-promises": "error",
     "@typescript-eslint/no-misused-promises": "error",
     "@typescript-eslint/prefer-optional-chain": "error",
+    "no-null/no-null": "error",
 
   /**
    * Having a semicolon helps the optimizer interpret your code correctly.
@@ -71,10 +73,8 @@
     /**
      * Just for beauty
      */
-    "quotes": [
-      "warn", "single"
-    ],
-    "import/no-duplicates" : "error",
+    "quotes": ["error", "single", { "allowTemplateLiterals": true }],
+    "import/no-duplicates": "error",
     "import/no-unresolved": "off",
     "import/default": "off",
     "import/no-named-as-default-member": "off",
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@
     "sonarjs/no-small-switch": "off",
     "etc/no-commented-out-code": "error",
     "etc/no-deprecated": "off",
-    "redundant-undefined/redundant-undefined": "error"
+    "redundant-undefined/redundant-undefined": "error",
+    "import/no-extraneous-dependencies": "error"
   }
 }
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 09d7c53c1..e648818e6 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@
     "typecheck": "npm run typecheck:shared && npm run typecheck:frontend && npm run typecheck:backend"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
-    "@podman-desktop/api": "0.0.202401191125-9c1aea6",
     "@typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin": "^6.16.0",
     "@typescript-eslint/parser": "^6.16.0",
     "@vitest/coverage-v8": "^1.1.0",
@@ -37,6 +36,7 @@
     "eslint-import-resolver-typescript": "^3.6.1",
     "eslint-plugin-etc": "^2.0.3",
     "eslint-plugin-import": "^2.29.1",
+    "eslint-plugin-no-null": "^1.0.2",
     "eslint-plugin-redundant-undefined": "^1.0.0",
     "eslint-plugin-sonarjs": "^0.23.0",
     "prettier": "^3.1.1",
diff --git a/packages/backend/package.json b/packages/backend/package.json
index 44ad79310..f9580ddf8 100644
--- a/packages/backend/package.json
+++ b/packages/backend/package.json
@@ -26,7 +26,9 @@
     "simple-git": "^3.22.0"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
+    "@podman-desktop/api": "0.0.202401191125-9c1aea6",
     "@types/js-yaml": "^4.0.9",
-    "@types/node": "^18"
+    "@types/node": "^18",
+    "vitest": "^1.1.0"
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/managers/applicationManager.ts b/packages/backend/src/managers/applicationManager.ts
index 4bf23d8e1..08a72253a 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/managers/applicationManager.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/managers/applicationManager.ts
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ export class ApplicationManager {
     const dirs = entries.filter(dir => dir.isDirectory());
     for (const d of dirs) {
       const modelEntries = fs.readdirSync(path.resolve(d.path, d.name));
-      if (modelEntries.length != 1) {
+      if (modelEntries.length !== 1) {
         // we support models with one file only for now
         continue;
       }
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/managers/catalogManager.ts b/packages/backend/src/managers/catalogManager.ts
index 776bf27da..565b3df1a 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/managers/catalogManager.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/managers/catalogManager.ts
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ export class CatalogManager {
     try {
       this.watchCatalogFile(catalogPath); // do not await, we want to do this async
     } catch (err: unknown) {
-      console.error("unable to watch catalog file, changes to the catalog file won't be reflected to the UI", err);
+      console.error(`unable to watch catalog file, changes to the catalog file won't be reflected to the UI`, err);
     }
 
     try {
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/managers/playground.ts b/packages/backend/src/managers/playground.ts
index 22645f962..af1016929 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/managers/playground.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/managers/playground.ts
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ function findFirstProvider(): ProviderContainerConnection | undefined {
   const engines = provider
     .getContainerConnections()
     .filter(connection => connection.connection.type === 'podman')
-    .filter(connection => connection.connection.status() == 'started');
+    .filter(connection => connection.connection.status() === 'started');
   return engines.length > 0 ? engines[0] : undefined;
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/models/AIConfig.ts b/packages/backend/src/models/AIConfig.ts
index 849a549ce..bbca2d10e 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/models/AIConfig.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/models/AIConfig.ts
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ export interface AIConfig {
 }
 
 export function isString(value: unknown): value is string {
-  return (value !== undefined && value !== null && typeof value === 'string') || value instanceof String;
+  return (!!value && typeof value === 'string') || value instanceof String;
 }
 
 export function assertString(value: unknown): string {
diff --git a/packages/frontend/package.json b/packages/frontend/package.json
index 251c320e1..e3b105746 100644
--- a/packages/frontend/package.json
+++ b/packages/frontend/package.json
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
     "svelte-fa": "^3.0.4",
     "svelte-markdown": "^0.4.1",
     "svelte-preprocess": "^5.1.3",
-    "tailwindcss": "^3.4.0"
+    "tailwindcss": "^3.4.0",
+    "vitest": "^1.1.0"
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/shared/src/messages/MessageProxy.ts b/packages/shared/src/messages/MessageProxy.ts
index e98e83c56..c844df415 100644
--- a/packages/shared/src/messages/MessageProxy.ts
+++ b/packages/shared/src/messages/MessageProxy.ts
@@ -42,9 +42,7 @@ export interface ISubscribedMessage {
 type UnaryRPC = (...args: unknown[]) => Promise<unknown>;
 
 export function isMessageRequest(content: unknown): content is IMessageRequest {
-  return (
-    content !== undefined && content !== null && typeof content === 'object' && 'id' in content && 'channel' in content
-  );
+  return !!content && typeof content === 'object' && 'id' in content && 'channel' in content;
 }
 
 export function isMessageResponse(content: unknown): content is IMessageResponse {
@@ -208,12 +206,6 @@ export class RpcBrowser {
   }
 
   isSubscribedMessage(content: any): content is ISubscribedMessage {
-    return (
-      content !== undefined &&
-      content !== null &&
-      'id' in content &&
-      'body' in content &&
-      this.subscribers.has(content.id)
-    );
+    return !!content && 'id' in content && 'body' in content && this.subscribers.has(content.id);
   }
 }
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 32cd7680d..ef695ab7a 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -1788,6 +1788,11 @@ eslint-plugin-import@^2.29.1:
     semver "^6.3.1"
     tsconfig-paths "^3.15.0"
 
+eslint-plugin-no-null@^1.0.2:
+  version "1.0.2"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/eslint-plugin-no-null/-/eslint-plugin-no-null-1.0.2.tgz#1236a812391390a1877ad4007c26e745341c951f"
+  integrity sha512-uRDiz88zCO/2rzGfgG15DBjNsgwWtWiSo4Ezy7zzajUgpnFIqd1TjepKeRmJZHEfBGu58o2a8S0D7vglvvhkVA==
+
 eslint-plugin-redundant-undefined@^1.0.0:
   version "1.0.0"
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/eslint-plugin-redundant-undefined/-/eslint-plugin-redundant-undefined-1.0.0.tgz"