diff --git a/create_db.sh b/create_db.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..857dc98feaf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/create_db.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+cd `dirname $0`
+python ./scripts/create_db.py $@
diff --git a/scripts/create_db.py b/scripts/create_db.py
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..5466eae2349
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/create_db.py
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+import sys, os.path, logging
+
+new_path = [ os.path.join( os.getcwd(), "lib" ) ]
+new_path.extend( sys.path[1:] ) # remove scripts/ from the path
+sys.path = new_path
+
+from galaxy import eggs
+from galaxy.model.migrate.check import create_or_verify_database as create_db
+
+import pkg_resources
+
+from ConfigParser import SafeConfigParser
+
+log = logging.getLogger( __name__ )
+
+# Poor man's optparse
+config_file = 'universe_wsgi.ini'
+if '-c' in sys.argv:
+    pos = sys.argv.index( '-c' )
+    sys.argv.pop(pos)
+    config_file = sys.argv.pop( pos )
+if not os.path.exists( config_file ):
+    print "Galaxy config file does not exist (hint: use '-c config.ini' for non-standard locations): %s" % config_file
+    sys.exit( 1 )
+
+cp = SafeConfigParser()
+cp.read( config_file )
+
+if cp.has_option( "app:main", "database_connection" ):
+    db_url = cp.get( "app:main", "database_connection" )
+elif cp.has_option( "app:main", "database_file" ):
+    db_url = "sqlite:///%s?isolation_level=IMMEDIATE" % cp.get( "app:main", "database_file" )
+else:
+    db_url = "sqlite:///./database/universe.sqlite?isolation_level=IMMEDIATE"
+
+create_db(db_url, config_file)