diff --git a/bracketpress.php b/bracketpress.php
index a2cec0a..f99b6db 100644
--- a/bracketpress.php
+++ b/bracketpress.php
@@ -311,10 +311,17 @@ function activate() {
             $this->update_option('edit_id', wp_insert_post($post));
         }
 
+        // The init hook does not run during plugin activation, so register the
+        // custom post type before flushing rewrites. Otherwise WordPress flushes
+        // rules without the bracket permalink structure and bracket links can 404
+        // until the site owner manually saves permalinks.
+        $this->register_posts();
         flush_rewrite_rules();
     }
 
-    function deactivate() {   }
+    function deactivate() {
+        flush_rewrite_rules();
+    }
 
 
     function register_posts() {