diff --git a/BrewBar/BrewBarApp.swift b/BrewBar/BrewBarApp.swift
index 2179076..a57dd7f 100644
--- a/BrewBar/BrewBarApp.swift
+++ b/BrewBar/BrewBarApp.swift
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ class AppDelegate: NSObject, NSApplicationDelegate {
     // MARK: - Menu
 
     func applicationDidFinishLaunching(_: Notification) {
+        Settings.registerDefaults()
+
         statusItem = NSStatusBar.system.statusItem(withLength: NSStatusItem.variableLength)
         setMenuBarIcon("brewbar-uptodate")
 
diff --git a/BrewBar/Settings.swift b/BrewBar/Settings.swift
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..60ab21b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/BrewBar/Settings.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+import Foundation
+
+/// UserDefaults-backed app settings. Booleans read false for unset keys,
+/// which covers the disabled-by-default settings; enabled-by-default ones
+/// get their fallback via registerDefaults() (consulted only when the user
+/// has never changed the value — nothing is written to disk).
+///
+/// Launch-at-login is intentionally absent: SMAppService is its source of
+/// truth, so storing a copy here could only drift out of sync.
+enum Settings {
+    static func registerDefaults() {
+        UserDefaults.standard.register(defaults: [
+            "includeGreedyCasks": true,
+            "confirmBeforeUpgradeAll": true,
+        ])
+    }
+
+    static var autoUpgradeFormulae: Bool {
+        get { UserDefaults.standard.bool(forKey: "autoUpgradeFormulae") }
+        set { UserDefaults.standard.set(newValue, forKey: "autoUpgradeFormulae") }
+    }
+
+    static var autoUpgradeCasks: Bool {
+        get { UserDefaults.standard.bool(forKey: "autoUpgradeCasks") }
+        set { UserDefaults.standard.set(newValue, forKey: "autoUpgradeCasks") }
+    }
+
+    static var notifyOnNewUpdates: Bool {
+        get { UserDefaults.standard.bool(forKey: "notifyOnNewUpdates") }
+        set { UserDefaults.standard.set(newValue, forKey: "notifyOnNewUpdates") }
+    }
+
+    static var showCountInMenuBar: Bool {
+        get { UserDefaults.standard.bool(forKey: "showCountInMenuBar") }
+        set { UserDefaults.standard.set(newValue, forKey: "showCountInMenuBar") }
+    }
+
+    static var includeGreedyCasks: Bool {
+        get { UserDefaults.standard.bool(forKey: "includeGreedyCasks") }
+        set { UserDefaults.standard.set(newValue, forKey: "includeGreedyCasks") }
+    }
+
+    static var confirmBeforeUpgradeAll: Bool {
+        get { UserDefaults.standard.bool(forKey: "confirmBeforeUpgradeAll") }
+        set { UserDefaults.standard.set(newValue, forKey: "confirmBeforeUpgradeAll") }
+    }
+}