diff --git a/lemur/__init__.py b/lemur/__init__.py
index 388914bd..015ad459 100644
--- a/lemur/__init__.py
+++ b/lemur/__init__.py
@@ -62,8 +62,3 @@ def configure_hook(app):
         response.status_code = 403
         return response
 
-
-
-
-
-
diff --git a/lemur/default.conf.py b/lemur/default.conf.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1ca0cc72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lemur/default.conf.py
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# This is just Python which means you can inherit and tweak settings
+
+import os
+_basedir = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
+
+ADMINS = frozenset([''])
+
+THREADS_PER_PAGE = 8
+
+#############
+## General ##
+#############
+
+# These will need to be set to `True` if you are developing locally
+CORS = False
+debug = False
+
+#############
+## Logging ##
+#############
+
+LOG_LEVEL = "DEBUG"
+LOG_FILE = "lemur.log"
+
diff --git a/lemur/factory.py b/lemur/factory.py
index 42afb32d..e0470ae2 100644
--- a/lemur/factory.py
+++ b/lemur/factory.py
@@ -88,11 +88,11 @@ def configure_app(app, config=None):
     except RuntimeError:
         if config and config != 'None':
             app.config.from_object(from_file(config))
-        else:
+        elif os.path.isfile(os.path.expanduser("~/.lemur/lemur.conf.py")):
             app.config.from_object(from_file(os.path.expanduser("~/.lemur/lemur.conf.py")))
+        else:
+            app.config.from_object(from_file(os.path.join(os.getcwd(), 'default.conf.py')))
 
-    if not app.config.get('LEMUR_ENCRYPTION_KEY'):
-        raise NoEncryptionKeyFound
 
 
 def configure_extensions(app):
diff --git a/lemur/manage.py b/lemur/manage.py
index c87543da..2f4aee15 100755
--- a/lemur/manage.py
+++ b/lemur/manage.py
@@ -495,7 +495,7 @@ def create_config(config_path=None):
     sys.stdout.write("Created a new configuration file {0}\n".format(config_path))
 
 
-if __name__ == "__main__":
+def main():
     manager.add_command("start", LemurServer())
     manager.add_command("runserver", Server(host='127.0.0.1'))
     manager.add_command("clean", Clean())
@@ -506,3 +506,7 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     manager.add_command('create_role', CreateRole())
     manager.add_command("sync", Sync())
     manager.run()
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()