diff --git a/app.js b/app.js
index 04e4222cd..22f343221 100644
--- a/app.js
+++ b/app.js
@@ -17,9 +17,8 @@ app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, 'views'));
 app.set('view engine', 'ejs');
 
 // Routes.
-app.use('/api/v1', require('./routes/api'));
 app.use('/client', express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'dist')));
-app.use('/admin', require('./routes/admin'));
+app.use('/', require('./routes'));
 
 //==============================================================================
 // ERROR HANDLING
diff --git a/bin/www b/bin/www
index af91c2c40..792a6b98a 100755
--- a/bin/www
+++ b/bin/www
@@ -13,27 +13,33 @@ process.env.DEBUG = process.env.TALK_DEBUG;
 const app = require('../app');
 const debug = require('debug')('talk:server');
 const http = require('http');
-
-/**
- * Get port from environment and store in Express.
- */
-
+const initPromise = require('../init');
 const port = normalizePort(process.env.TALK_PORT || '3000');
-app.set('port', port);
 
-/**
- * Create HTTP server.
- */
+let server;
 
-const server = http.createServer(app);
+initPromise
+  .then(() => {
+    /**
+    * Get port from environment and store in Express.
+    */
 
-/**
- * Listen on provided port, on all network interfaces.
- */
+    app.set('port', port);
 
-server.listen(port);
-server.on('error', onError);
-server.on('listening', onListening);
+    /**
+    * Create HTTP server.
+    */
+
+    server = http.createServer(app);
+
+    /**
+    * Listen on provided port, on all network interfaces.
+    */
+
+    server.listen(port);
+    server.on('error', onError);
+    server.on('listening', onListening);
+  });
 
 /**
  * Normalize a port into a number, string, or false.
diff --git a/client/coral-admin/src/AppRouter.js b/client/coral-admin/src/AppRouter.js
index d00caa6c5..d1b25d0f1 100644
--- a/client/coral-admin/src/AppRouter.js
+++ b/client/coral-admin/src/AppRouter.js
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ import {Router, Route, IndexRoute, browserHistory} from 'react-router';
 
 import ModerationQueue from 'containers/ModerationQueue';
 import CommentStream from 'containers/CommentStream';
-import EmbedLink from 'components/EmbedLink';
 import Configure from 'containers/Configure';
 import CommunityContainer from 'containers/CommunityContainer';
 import LayoutContainer from 'containers/LayoutContainer';
@@ -12,7 +11,6 @@ const routes = (
   <Route path='admin' component={LayoutContainer}>
     <IndexRoute component={ModerationQueue} />
     <Route path='embed' component={CommentStream} />
-    <Route path='embedlink' component={EmbedLink} />
     <Route path='community' component={CommunityContainer} />
     <Route path='configure' component={Configure} />
   </Route>
diff --git a/client/coral-admin/src/components/EmbedLink.css b/client/coral-admin/src/components/EmbedLink.css
deleted file mode 100644
index 15583414a..000000000
--- a/client/coral-admin/src/components/EmbedLink.css
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-#embedLink {
-  width:400px;
-  margin-left: auto;
-  margin-right: auto;
-}
-
-.embedTextarea {
-  width: 100%;
-}
-
-.copyButton {
-  margin-top: 20px;
-}
diff --git a/client/coral-admin/src/components/EmbedLink.js b/client/coral-admin/src/components/EmbedLink.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 41cbdf170..000000000
--- a/client/coral-admin/src/components/EmbedLink.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,37 +0,0 @@
-import React from 'react';
-import styles from './EmbedLink.css';
-import I18n from 'coral-framework/i18n/i18n';
-import translations from '../translations';
-import {Button} from 'react-mdl';
-
-const embedText =
-`<div id='coralStreamEmbed'></div><script type='text/javascript' src='http://pym.nprapps.org/pym.v1.min.js'></script><script>var pymParent = new pym.Parent('coralStreamEmbed', '${window.location.protocol}//${window.location.host}/embedScript/index.html', {});</script>`;
-
-const copyToClipBoard = () => {
-  const copyTextarea = document.querySelector(`.${  styles.embedTextarea}`);
-  copyTextarea.select();
-
-  try {
-    document.execCommand('copy');
-  } catch (err) {
-    console.error('Unable to copy');
-  }
-};
-
-const EmbedLink = () => <div id={styles.embedLink}>
-  <h3>Embed Comment Stream</h3>
-  <textarea
-    className={styles.embedTextarea}
-    onClick={copyToClipBoard}
-    rows={4}
-    value={embedText} />
-  <div className={styles.copyButton}>
-    <Button onClick={copyToClipBoard} raised>
-      {lang.t('embedlink.copy')}
-    </Button>
-  </div>
-</div>;
-
-export default EmbedLink;
-
-const lang = new I18n(translations);
diff --git a/client/coral-admin/src/containers/Configure.js b/client/coral-admin/src/containers/Configure.js
index 0d4cf58d6..229c4e948 100644
--- a/client/coral-admin/src/containers/Configure.js
+++ b/client/coral-admin/src/containers/Configure.js
@@ -80,8 +80,7 @@ class Configure extends React.Component {
   }
 
   getEmbed () {
-    const embedText =
-    `<div id='coralStreamEmbed'></div><script type='text/javascript' src='https://pym.nprapps.org/pym.v1.min.js'></script><script>var pymParent = new pym.Parent('coralStreamEmbed', '${window.location.protocol}//${window.location.host}/client/embed/stream/bundle.js', {title: 'comments'});</script>`;
+    const embedText = `<div id='coralStreamEmbed'></div><script type='text/javascript' src='http://pym.nprapps.org/pym.v1.min.js'></script><script>var pymParent = new pym.Parent('coralStreamEmbed', '${window.location.protocol}//${window.location.host}/embed/stream', {});</script>`;
 
     return <List>
       <ListItem className={styles.configSettingEmbed}>
diff --git a/init.js b/init.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9c3c2bda5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/init.js
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+const Setting = require('./models/setting');
+
+const defaults = {id: '1', moderation: 'pre'};
+module.exports = Setting.init(defaults);
+
+// presumably this file will grow, which is why I've broken it out.
diff --git a/models/setting.js b/models/setting.js
index 7d1f4b367..09b13e099 100644
--- a/models/setting.js
+++ b/models/setting.js
@@ -11,6 +11,14 @@ const SettingSchema = new Schema({
   }
 });
 
+/**
+ * this is run once when the app starts to ensure settings are populated
+ * @return {Promise} null initialize the global settings object
+ */
+SettingSchema.statics.init = function (defaults) {
+  return this.update({id: '1'}, {$setOnInsert: defaults}, {upsert: true});
+};
+
 /**
  * Gets the entire settings record and sends it back
  * @return {Promise} settings the whole settings record
diff --git a/routes/embed/index.js b/routes/embed/index.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..519de9d2f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/routes/embed/index.js
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+const express = require('express');
+const router = express.Router();
+
+router.use('/:embed', (req, res, next) => {
+  switch (req.params.embed) {
+  case 'stream':
+    return res.render('embed/stream', {});
+  default:
+    // will return a 404.
+    return next();
+  }
+});
+
+module.exports = router;
diff --git a/routes/index.js b/routes/index.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cde5b07c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/routes/index.js
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+const express = require('express');
+const router = express.Router();
+
+router.use('/api/v1', require('./api'));
+router.use('/admin', require('./admin'));
+router.use('/embed', require('./embed'));
+
+router.get('/', (req, res) => {
+  return res.render('home', {});
+});
+
+module.exports = router;
diff --git a/views/embed/stream.ejs b/views/embed/stream.ejs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dd7142c3b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/views/embed/stream.ejs
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html>
+  <head>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/client/embed/stream/default.css">
+    <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Lato|Open+Sans" rel="stylesheet">
+    <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/icon?family=Material+Icons"
+    rel="stylesheet">
+  </head>
+  <body>
+    <div id="coralStream"/>
+    <script src="/client/embed/stream/bundle.js"></script>
+  </body>
+</html>
diff --git a/views/home.ejs b/views/home.ejs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5654e1745
--- /dev/null
+++ b/views/home.ejs
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+<html>
+  <head>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+  <div style="margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; width:500px">
+    <h1>Corem ipsal</h1>
+    <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sponge amet, consectetur adipiscing clam. Ut lobortis sollicitudin pillar a ornare. Curabitur dignissim vestibulum cay non rhoncus. Cras laoreet ante vel nunc hendrerit, shelf imperdiet neque egestas. Suspendisse aliquet iaculis fermentum. Talk volutpat, tellus posuere laoreet consequat, mi lacus laoreet massa, sed vehicula mauris velit non lectus. Integer non trust nec neque congue faucibus porttitor sit amet elkhorn.</p>
+
+<div id='coralStreamEmbed'></div>
+<script type='text/javascript' src='https://pym.nprapps.org/pym.v1.min.js'></script>
+<script>
+var pymParent = new pym.Parent('coralStreamEmbed', '/embed/stream', {title: 'Talk Comments'});
+pymParent.onMessage('height', function(height) {document.querySelector('#coralStreamEmbed iframe').height = height + 'px'})</script>
+</div>
+  </body>
+</html>