diff --git a/initDb.js b/initDb.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7e16b86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/initDb.js
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+import { writeFile } from 'fs/promises';
+
+import { getArg } from './args.js';
+import { getChildren } from './io.js';
+import { error, log } from './log.js';
+
+const ctx = 'initDb.js';
+
+const initDb = async () => {
+  log(ctx, 'Grabbing existing directories');
+  let directory = '';
+  try {
+    directory = getArg('path');
+  } catch (err) {
+    error(ctx, err);
+    return;
+  }
+  const children = await getChildren(directory);
+  const db = children.map(child => ({
+    'user': child,
+    'lastUpdated': 'never',
+  }));
+  log(ctx, 'Writing database');
+  await writeFile(`${directory}/db.json`, JSON.stringify(db, null, 2));
+  log(ctx, 'Writing complete!');
+};
+
+initDb();
diff --git a/io.js b/io.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b62b8f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/io.js
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+import { readdir } from 'fs/promises'
+
+export const getChildren = async source => 
+  (await readdir(source, { withFileTypes: true }))
+    .filter(dirent => dirent.isDirectory())
+    .map(dirent => dirent.name)