diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..13861a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# For pacman-based distros: sudo pacman -S python-flask python-flask-sqlalchemy python-toml
+blinker>=1.7.0
+itsdangerous>=2.1.2
+Jinja2>=3.1.4
+MarkupSafe>=2.1.5
+Werkzeug>=3.0.1
+Flask>=2.3.3
+greenlet>=3.1.0
+SQLAlchemy>=2.0.36.dev0
+Flask-SQLAlchemy>=3.1.1
+toml>=0.10.2
diff --git a/ythdd.py b/ythdd.py
index 4d41621..c041c8d 100644
--- a/ythdd.py
+++ b/ythdd.py
@@ -2,17 +2,19 @@
 from flask import Flask, render_template
 from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
 from markupsafe import escape
+#from argparse import ArgumentParser
+from ythdd_globals import config, colors
 import requests, json, toml, time
 import views, downloader, ythdd_api, ythdd_globals, ythdd_db
 
 ythdd_globals.starttime = int(time.time())
 ythdd_globals.apiRequests = 0
 ythdd_globals.apiFailedRequests = 0
-ythdd_globals.isProxied = ythdd_globals.config['general']['is_proxied']
+ythdd_globals.isProxied = config['general']['is_proxied']
 ythdd_globals.outsideApiHits = 0
 
 app = Flask(__name__)
-app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = f"sqlite:///{ythdd_globals.config["general"]["db_file_path"]}"
+app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = f"sqlite:///{config['general']['db_file_path']}"
 app.config['SQLALCHEMY_TRACK_MODIFICATIONS'] = False
 app.add_url_rule('/', view_func=views.index)
 app.add_url_rule('/index.html', view_func=views.index)
@@ -30,11 +32,23 @@ def blank(val):
 	#users = db.session.query(LocalUsers).all()
 	#return users
 
+def main():
+	print(f"{colors.BOLD + colors.HEADER}Welcome to ythdd ({ythdd_globals.version})!{colors.ENDC}")
+	print(f"To run in development mode (to see changes updated live), use: {colors.OKCYAN}flask --app ythdd run --debug{colors.ENDC}.")
+	print("To run locally, use IP 127.0.0.1. To run on all interfaces, use 0.0.0.0.\n")
+	print("Enter hostname:port to run Flask app on [127.0.0.1:5000]:")
+	try:
+		host_port = input('> ').split(':')
+		if host_port == ['']:
+			host_port = ['127.0.0.1', '5000'] # defaults
+
+	except KeyboardInterrupt:
+		print(" ...exiting gracefully."), quit() # handle Ctrl+C
+
+	app.run(host=host_port[0], port=int(host_port[1]))
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-	print("welcome to ythdd")
-	print("to run locally, use ip 127.0.0.1. to run on all interfaces, use 0.0.0.0.")
-	print("enter hostname:port to run flask app on:")
-	host_port = input('> ').split(':')
 	#app.run(host="127.0.0.1", port=5000)
 	#app.run(host="0.0.0.0", port=5000)
-	app.run(host=host_port[0], port=int(host_port[1]))
\ No newline at end of file
+	# TODO: add argument parser to load config files, etc.
+	main()
diff --git a/ythdd_globals.py b/ythdd_globals.py
index d88c4c1..96b3520 100644
--- a/ythdd_globals.py
+++ b/ythdd_globals.py
@@ -1,17 +1,39 @@
 #!/usr/bin/python3
-import time, toml
+import time, toml, os
 
-global starttime, apiRequests, apiFailedRequests, outsideApiHits, config, version, apiVersion
+global starttime, apiRequests, apiFailedRequests, outsideApiHits, config, version, apiVersion, colors
 
-#def init():
-#	starttime = int(time.time())
+class colors:
+	HEADER = '\033[95m'
+	OKBLUE = '\033[94m'
+	OKCYAN = '\033[96m'
+	OKGREEN = '\033[92m'
+	WARNING = '\033[93m'
+	FAIL = '\033[91m'
+	ENDC = '\033[0m'
+	BOLD = '\033[1m'
+	UNDERLINE = '\033[4m'
+	ENDL = '\n'
 
-#def notImplemented(data):
-#	return 501, f"not recognised/implemented: {data[0]}", []
+def notImplemented(name):
+	return 501, f"not recognised/implemented: {name}", []
 
-config = toml.load("config.toml")
+configfile = "config.toml" # TODO: implement a way to specify alternative config file path
 version = "0.0.1"
 apiVersion = "1"
 
+# TODO: turn this into function, to make setting configfile with argparser (and effectively using a custom config file) possible
+if not os.path.exists(configfile):
+	# use dummy default config, TODO: update this in the near future
+	config = {'general': {'db_file_path': 'ythdd_db.sqlite', 'video_storage_directory_path': 'videos/', 'is_proxied': False}, 'api': {'api_key': 'CHANGEME', 'api_key_admin': str(int(time.time()*1337 % 899_999 + 100_000))}, 'extractor': {'user-agent': '', 'cookies_path': ''}, 'admin': {'admins': ['admin']}, 'yt_dlp': {}, 'postprocessing': {'presets': [{'name': 'recommended: [N][<=720p] best V+A', 'format': 'bv[height<=720]+ba', 'reencode': ''}, {'name': '[N][1080p] best V+A', 'format': 'bv[height=1080]+ba', 'reencode': ''}, {'name': '[R][1080p] webm', 'format': 'bv[height=1080]+ba', 'reencode': 'webm'}, {'name': '[N][720p] best V+A', 'format': 'bv[height=720]+ba', 'reencode': ''}, {'name': '[R][720p] webm', 'format': 'bv[height=720]+ba', 'reencode': 'webm'}, {'name': '[N][480p] best V+A', 'format': 'bv[height=480]+ba', 'reencode': ''}, {'name': '[480p] VP9 webm/reencode', 'format': 'bv*[height=480][ext=webm]+ba/bv[height=480]+ba', 'reencode': 'webm'}, {'name': '[N][1080p] best video only', 'format': 'bv[height=1080]', 'reencode': ''}, {'name': '[N][opus] best audio only', 'format': 'ba', 'reencode': 'opus'}]}}
+	print(f"{colors.WARNING}WARNING{colors.ENDC}: Using default, baked in config data. {colors.ENDL}"
+		f"Consider copying and editing the provided example file ({colors.OKCYAN}config.default.toml{colors.ENDC}).")
+	print(f"{colors.WARNING}WARNING{colors.ENDC}: Default config populated with one-time, insecure pseudorandom admin API key: {colors.OKCYAN}{config['api']['api_key_admin']}{colors.ENDC}."
+		f" {colors.ENDL}You need to provide a config file for persistence!{colors.ENDL}")
+	#with open(configfile, "w") as file:
+	#	file.write(toml.dumps(config))
+else:
+	config = toml.load(configfile)
+
 def getUptime():
-	return int(time.time()) - starttime
\ No newline at end of file
+	return int(time.time()) - starttime