diff --git a/web/package-lock.json b/web/package-lock.json
index 6907bcb2..23441713 100644
--- a/web/package-lock.json
+++ b/web/package-lock.json
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@
             "dependencies": {
                 "@fontsource-variable/noto-sans-mono": "^5.0.20",
                 "@fontsource/ibm-plex-mono": "^5.0.13",
-                "@tabler/icons-svelte": "^3.6.0"
+                "@tabler/icons-svelte": "^3.6.0",
+                "ts-deepmerge": "^7.0.0"
             },
             "devDependencies": {
                 "@eslint/js": "^9.5.0",
@@ -3048,6 +3049,15 @@
                 "typescript": ">=4.2.0"
             }
         },
+        "node_modules/ts-deepmerge": {
+            "version": "7.0.0",
+            "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/ts-deepmerge/-/ts-deepmerge-7.0.0.tgz",
+            "integrity": "sha512-WZ/iAJrKDhdINv1WG6KZIGHrZDar6VfhftG1QJFpVbOYZMYJLJOvZOo1amictRXVdBXZIgBHKswMTXzElngprA==",
+            "license": "ISC",
+            "engines": {
+                "node": ">=14.13.1"
+            }
+        },
         "node_modules/tslib": {
             "version": "2.6.3",
             "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/tslib/-/tslib-2.6.3.tgz",
diff --git a/web/package.json b/web/package.json
index af5ab742..eda7e04a 100644
--- a/web/package.json
+++ b/web/package.json
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
     "dependencies": {
         "@fontsource-variable/noto-sans-mono": "^5.0.20",
         "@fontsource/ibm-plex-mono": "^5.0.13",
-        "@tabler/icons-svelte": "^3.6.0"
+        "@tabler/icons-svelte": "^3.6.0",
+        "ts-deepmerge": "^7.0.0"
     }
 }
diff --git a/web/src/lib/settings.ts b/web/src/lib/settings.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cdbf607b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/web/src/lib/settings.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+import { readable, type Updater } from 'svelte/store';
+import { merge } from 'ts-deepmerge';
+
+import type { RecursivePartial } from './types/generic';
+import type { CobaltSettings } from './types/settings';
+
+import defaultSettings from "$lib/settings/defaults";
+
+const writeToStorage = (settings: CobaltSettings) => {
+    localStorage.setItem(
+        "settings",
+        JSON.stringify(settings)
+    );
+
+    return settings;
+}
+
+const loadFromStorage = () => {
+    const settings = localStorage.getItem('settings');
+    if (!settings) {
+        return writeToStorage(defaultSettings);
+    }
+
+    return JSON.parse(settings) as CobaltSettings;
+}
+
+let update: (_: Updater<CobaltSettings>) => void;
+
+export default readable<CobaltSettings>(
+    loadFromStorage(),
+    (_, _update) => { update = _update }
+);
+
+// update settings from outside
+export function updateSetting(settings: RecursivePartial<CobaltSettings>) {
+    update((current) => {
+        // deep merge partial type into full CobaltSettings type
+        current = merge(current, settings) as CobaltSettings;
+
+        return writeToStorage(current);
+    });
+}
diff --git a/web/src/lib/settings/defaults.ts b/web/src/lib/settings/defaults.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ddaa83be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/web/src/lib/settings/defaults.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+import type { CobaltSettings } from "$lib/types/settings";
+
+const defaultSettings: CobaltSettings = {
+    schemaVersion: 1,
+    accessibility: {
+        reduceAnimations: false,
+        reduceTransparency: false
+    },
+    appearance: {
+        theme: "auto"
+    },
+    general: {
+        customProcessingEndpoint: "",
+        seenOnboarding: false,
+        seenSafetyWarning: false
+    },
+    save: {
+        audioFormat: "mp3",
+        disableMetadata: false,
+        downloadMode: "auto",
+        downloadPopup: true,
+        filenameStyle: "classic",
+        tiktokH265: false,
+        tiktokFullAudio: false,
+        twitterGif: false,
+        videoQuality: "720",
+        youtubeVideoCodec: "h264",
+        youtubeDubBrowserLang: false
+    },
+    privacy: {
+        trafficAnalytics: true
+    }
+}
+
+export default defaultSettings;
diff --git a/web/src/lib/types/generic.ts b/web/src/lib/types/generic.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c2927964
--- /dev/null
+++ b/web/src/lib/types/generic.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+// more readable version of recursive partial taken from stackoverflow:
+// https://stackoverflow.com/a/51365037
+export type RecursivePartial<Type> = {
+    [Key in keyof Type]?:
+    Type[Key] extends (infer ElementType)[] ? RecursivePartial<ElementType>[] :
+    Type[Key] extends object | undefined ? RecursivePartial<Type[Key]> :
+    Type[Key];
+};
diff --git a/web/src/lib/types/settings.ts b/web/src/lib/types/settings.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a65e7843
--- /dev/null
+++ b/web/src/lib/types/settings.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+type CobaltSettingsAccessibility = {
+    reduceAnimations: boolean,
+    reduceTransparency: boolean,
+};
+
+type CobaltSettingsAppearance = {
+    theme: "auto" | "light" | "dark",
+};
+
+type CobaltSettingsGeneral = {
+    customProcessingEndpoint: string,
+    seenOnboarding: boolean,
+    seenSafetyWarning: boolean,
+};
+
+type CobaltSettingsSave = {
+    audioFormat: "best" | "mp3" | "ogg" | "wav" | "opus",
+    disableMetadata: boolean,
+    downloadMode: "auto" | "audio" | "mute",
+    downloadPopup: boolean,
+    filenameStyle: "classic" | "basic" | "pretty" | "nerdy",
+    tiktokH265: boolean,
+    tiktokFullAudio: boolean,
+    twitterGif: boolean,
+    videoQuality: "max" | "2160" | "1440" | "1080" | "720" | "360" | "240" | "144",
+    youtubeVideoCodec: "h264" | "av1" | "vp9",
+    youtubeDubBrowserLang: boolean,
+};
+
+type CobaltSettingsPrivacy = {
+    trafficAnalytics: boolean,
+};
+
+export type CobaltSettings = {
+    schemaVersion: number,
+    accessibility: CobaltSettingsAccessibility,
+    appearance: CobaltSettingsAppearance,
+    general: CobaltSettingsGeneral,
+    save: CobaltSettingsSave,
+    privacy: CobaltSettingsPrivacy,
+};