diff --git a/asl_articles/tests/__init__.py b/asl_articles/tests/__init__.py
index e69de29..03a6d7b 100644
--- a/asl_articles/tests/__init__.py
+++ b/asl_articles/tests/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+""" Module definitions. """
+
+pytest_options = None
diff --git a/asl_articles/tests/test_startup.py b/asl_articles/tests/test_startup.py
index 1ea21dc..dbe61c0 100644
--- a/asl_articles/tests/test_startup.py
+++ b/asl_articles/tests/test_startup.py
@@ -1,11 +1,15 @@
 """ Test the startup process. """
 
+import pytest
+
 import asl_articles.startup
 
 from asl_articles.tests.utils import init_tests, wait_for, find_child, set_toast_marker, check_toast
+from asl_articles.tests import pytest_options
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+@pytest.mark.skipif( pytest_options.flask_url is not None, reason="Testing against a remote Flask server."  )
 def test_startup_messages( webdriver, flask_app, dbconn ):
     """Test startup messages."""
 
diff --git a/conftest.py b/conftest.py
index c660209..dbcc54c 100644
--- a/conftest.py
+++ b/conftest.py
@@ -17,10 +17,12 @@ import alembic.config
 import asl_articles
 from asl_articles import app
 from asl_articles.utils import to_bool
-from asl_articles.tests import utils
+from asl_articles import tests as asl_articles_tests
 
 _FLASK_SERVER_URL = ( "localhost", 5001 ) # nb: for the test Flask server we spin up
 
+_pytest_options = None
+
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 def pytest_addoption( parser ):
@@ -60,6 +62,15 @@ def pytest_addoption( parser ):
         help="Database connection string."
     )
 
+# - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+def pytest_configure( config ):
+    """Called after command-line options have been parsed."""
+    global _pytest_options
+    _pytest_options = config.option
+    # notify the test suite about the pytest options
+    asl_articles_tests.pytest_options = _pytest_options
+
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 @pytest.fixture( scope="session" )
@@ -106,7 +117,7 @@ def flask_app( request ):
                 return False
             except Exception as ex: #pylint: disable=broad-except
                 assert False, "Unexpected exception: {}".format( ex )
-        utils.wait_for( 5, is_ready )
+        asl_articles_tests.utils.wait_for( 5, is_ready )
 
     # return the server to the caller
     try:
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index e4fa01b..cc6bb4e 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -10,3 +10,4 @@ psycopg2-binary==2.8.6
 alembic==1.4.3
 pyyaml==5.3.1
 lxml==4.6.2
+waitress==2.0.0
diff --git a/run_server.py b/run_server.py
index 3087bd4..62e78fd 100755
--- a/run_server.py
+++ b/run_server.py
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@ for fspec in ["config","static","templates"] :
 
 # initialize
 from asl_articles import app
+flask_host = app.config.get( "FLASK_HOST", "localhost" )
+flask_port = app.config.get( "FLASK_PORT_NO", 5000 )
+flask_debug = app.config.get( "FLASK_DEBUG", False )
 
 # FUDGE! Startup can take some time (e.g. because we have to build the search index over a large database),
 # and since we do that on first request, it's annoying to have started the server up, if we don't do that
@@ -37,15 +40,13 @@ from asl_articles import app
 def _force_init():
     time.sleep( 5 )
     try:
-        # figoure out the URL for the request we're going to make
+        # figure out the URL for the request we're going to make
         with app.test_request_context() as req:
             url = url_for( "ping" )
             host = req.request.host_url
-        # FUDGE! There doesn't seem to be a way to get the port number Flask is listening on :-/
-        port = app.config.get( "FLASK_PORT_NO", 5000 )
         if host.endswith( "/" ):
             host = host[:-1]
-        url = "{}:{}{}".format( host, port, url )
+        url = "{}:{}{}".format( host, flask_port, url )
         # make the request
         _ = urllib.request.urlopen( url ).read()
     except Exception as ex: #pylint: disable=broad-except
@@ -53,9 +54,20 @@ def _force_init():
 threading.Thread( target=_force_init ).start()
 
 # run the server
-app.run(
-    host = app.config.get( "FLASK_HOST", "localhost" ),
-    port = app.config.get( "FLASK_PORT_NO" ),
-    debug = app.config.get( "FLASK_DEBUG", False ),
-    extra_files = extra_files
-)
+if flask_debug:
+    # NOTE: It's useful to run the webapp using the Flask development server, since it will
+    # automatically reload itself when the source files change.
+    app.run(
+        host=flask_host, port=flask_port,
+        debug=flask_debug,
+        extra_files=extra_files
+    )
+else:
+    import waitress
+    # FUDGE! Browsers tend to send a max. of 6-8 concurrent requests per server, so we increase
+    # the number of worker threads to avoid task queue warnings :-/
+    nthreads = app.config.get( "WAITRESS_THREADS", 8 )
+    waitress.serve( app,
+        host=flask_host, port=flask_port,
+        threads=nthreads
+    )