Updates galore. Improved folder structure, componentized, and notifications upon completion.

app/__init__.py

@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+"""
+app/__init__.py
+===============
+Flask application factory.
+
+Usage
+-----
+  from app import create_app
+  flask_app = create_app()
+
+Gunicorn (wsgi.py) calls create_app() once at startup.
+The dev-server entry point (run.py) does the same.
+"""
+
+from flask import Flask
+
+from .config import BASE_DIR, MEDIA_ROOT
+from .db     import init_db
+from .routes import register_routes
+
+
+def create_app() -> Flask:
+    """
+    Create and return a configured Flask application instance.
+    """
+    flask_app = Flask(
+        __name__,
+        template_folder=str(BASE_DIR / 'templates'),
+        static_folder=str(BASE_DIR / 'static'),
+    )
+
+    # Initialise the SQLite settings database
+    init_db()
+
+    register_routes(flask_app)
+
+    return flask_app