Forward and Low-$x$ Physics Programme with CMS at the LHC

Forward physics with CMS at the LHC covers a wide range of physics subjects, including very low-$x$ QCD, underlying event and multiple interaction characteristics, photon-mediated processes, diffraction in the presence of a hard scale and even MSSM Higgs discovery in central exclusive production. The status of the forward detector instrumentation of CMS, and the preparation of some example analyses of the first LHC data are discussed.