diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 609bdaa..5317430 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ You can manage feeds and artists in the web UI:
   - add an artist
   - remove an artist
 
-**Artist Search*
+**Artist Search**
+
 When adding an artist, the service will query the musicbrainz API for the given string and return a list of matching artists. 
 The user can then click on the artist to add to the feed.
 
diff --git a/mzb_rss_service/config.py b/mzb_rss_service/config.py
index bcd6ab6..377ef52 100644
--- a/mzb_rss_service/config.py
+++ b/mzb_rss_service/config.py
@@ -15,11 +15,26 @@ MB_APP_NAME = os.path.expandvars(os.environ.get('MB_APP_NAME', 'mzb-rss-service'
 MB_VERSION = os.path.expandvars(os.environ.get('MB_VERSION', '0.1.0'))
 MB_CONTACT = os.path.expandvars(os.environ.get('MB_CONTACT', 'someone@somewhere.com'))
 
+# file system dir check
+if not os.path.exists(CACHE_DIR):
+    os.makedirs(CACHE_DIR)
+if not os.path.exists(os.path.dirname(FEEDS_FILE_PATH)):
+    os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(FEEDS_FILE_PATH))
+if not os.path.exists(os.path.dirname(CONFIG_FILE_PATH)):
+    os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(CONFIG_FILE_PATH))
 
 class Config:
     def __init__(self):
         self._feeds_data = self._load_yaml(FEEDS_FILE_PATH)
-        self._settings = self._load_yaml(CONFIG_FILE_PATH)
+        if os.path.exists(CONFIG_FILE_PATH):
+            self._settings = self._load_yaml(CONFIG_FILE_PATH)
+        else:
+            self._settings = {
+               'service': {
+                    'days_back': 0,
+                    'cache_time_hours': 8
+                }
+            }
         self.FEEDS_FILE_PATH = FEEDS_FILE_PATH
         self.CONFIG_FILE_PATH = CONFIG_FILE_PATH
         self.CACHE_DIR = CACHE_DIR
diff --git a/mzb_rss_service/main.py b/mzb_rss_service/main.py
index 04e7cdb..b6b1137 100644
--- a/mzb_rss_service/main.py
+++ b/mzb_rss_service/main.py
@@ -16,6 +16,13 @@ log_format='%(asctime)s - %(name)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s'
 mbz_log_level_str = os.environ.get('MBZ_LOG_LEVEL', 'WARNING').upper()
 mbz_log_level = getattr(logging, mbz_log_level_str, logging.WARNING)
 
+# file system init
+if not os.path.exists(os.path.dirname(log_file)):
+    os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(log_file))
+if not os.path.exists(os.path.dirname(config.CACHE_DIR)):
+    os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(config.CACHE_DIR))
+
+
 # Configure root logger
 root_logger = logging.getLogger()
 root_logger.setLevel(log_level)