diff --git a/scripts/update_cli.php b/scripts/update_cli.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..06dff0a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/update_cli.php
@@ -0,0 +1,130 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env php
+<?php
+
+// Change to the directory of this script so that all shell commands run here
+chdir(__DIR__);
+
+// Ensure script is run only from the CLI
+if (php_sapi_name() !== 'cli') {
+    die("This script can only be run from the command line.\n");
+}
+
+// Ensure the script is run by the owner of the file
+$fileOwner = fileowner(__FILE__);
+$currentUser = posix_geteuid(); // Get the current effective user ID
+
+if ($currentUser !== $fileOwner) {
+    $ownerInfo = posix_getpwuid($fileOwner);
+    $ownerName = $ownerInfo['name'] ?? 'unknown';
+    fwrite(STDERR, "Error: This script must be run by the file owner ($ownerName) to proceed.\nYou could try sudo -u $ownerName php update_cli.php\n");
+    exit(1);
+}
+
+require_once 'config.php';
+require_once "functions.php";
+
+// A function to print the help message so that we don't duplicate it
+function printHelp() {
+    echo "Usage: php update_cli.php [options]\n\n";
+    echo "Options:\n";
+    echo "  --help          Show this help message.\n";
+    echo "  --update        Perform a git pull to update the application.\n";
+    echo "  --force_update  Perform a git fetch and hard reset to origin/master.\n";
+    echo "  --update_db     Update the database structure to the latest version.\n";
+    echo "\nIf no options are provided, a standard update (git pull) is performed.\n";
+}
+
+// Define allowed options (removed 'user')
+$allowed_options = [
+    'help',
+    'update',
+    'force_update',
+    'update_db'
+];
+
+// Parse command-line options
+$options = getopt('', ['update', 'force_update', 'update_db', 'help']);
+
+// Check for invalid options by comparing argv against allowed options
+$argv_copy = $argv;
+array_shift($argv_copy); // Remove script name
+
+foreach ($argv_copy as $arg) {
+    if (substr($arg, 0, 2) === '--') {
+        // Extract the option name (everything after -- and before = if present)
+        $eqPos = strpos($arg, '=');
+        if ($eqPos !== false) {
+            $optName = substr($arg, 2, $eqPos - 2);
+        } else {
+            $optName = substr($arg, 2);
+        }
+
+        // Check if option name is allowed
+        if (!in_array($optName, $allowed_options)) {
+            echo "Error: Unrecognized option: $arg\n\n";
+            printHelp();
+            exit(1);
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+// If "help" is requested, show instructions and exit
+if (isset($options['help'])) {
+    printHelp();
+    exit;
+}
+
+// If no recognized options are passed, default to --update
+if (count($options) === 0) {
+    $options['update'] = true;
+}
+
+// If "update" or "force_update" is requested
+if (isset($options['update']) || isset($options['force_update'])) {
+    if (isset($options['force_update'])) {
+        // Perform a hard reset
+        exec("git fetch --all 2>&1", $output, $return_var);
+        exec("git reset --hard origin/master 2>&1", $output2, $return_var2);
+        echo implode("\n", $output) . "\n" . implode("\n", $output2) . "\n";
+    } else {
+        // Perform a standard update (git pull)
+        exec("git pull 2>&1", $output, $return_var);
+        
+        // Check if the repository is already up to date
+        if (strpos(implode("\n", $output), 'Already up to date.') === false) {
+            echo implode("\n", $output) . "\n";
+            echo "Update successful\n";
+        } else {
+            // If already up-to-date, don't show the update success message
+            echo implode("\n", $output) . "\n";
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+// If "update_db" is requested
+if (isset($options['update_db'])) {
+    require_once('database_version.php');
+
+    $latest_db_version = LATEST_DATABASE_VERSION;
+
+    // Fetch the current version from the database
+    $result = mysqli_query($mysqli, "SELECT config_current_database_version FROM settings LIMIT 1");
+    $row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result);
+    DEFINE("CURRENT_DATABASE_VERSION", $row['config_current_database_version']);
+    $old_db_version = $row['config_current_database_version'];
+
+    // Now include the update logic
+    require_once('database_updates.php');
+
+    // After database_updates.php has done its job, fetch the updated current DB version again
+    $result = mysqli_query($mysqli, "SELECT config_current_database_version FROM settings LIMIT 1");
+    $row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result);
+    $new_db_version = $row['config_current_database_version'];
+
+    if ($old_db_version !== $latest_db_version) {
+        echo "Database updated from version $old_db_version to $new_db_version.\n";
+        echo "The latest database version is $latest_db_version.\n";
+    } else {
+        echo "Database is already at the latest version ($latest_db_version). No updates were applied.\n";
+    }
+}