diff --git a/scripts/set-up-authoritative-keyserver.sh b/scripts/set-up-authoritative-keyserver.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..0dba91652
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/set-up-authoritative-keyserver.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+PRJ_ROOT="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
+
+user_credentials_file="$PRJ_ROOT/keyserver/secrets/user_credentials.json"
+
+set_up_or_abort() {
+  read -r -p "Do you want to set up a new authoritative keyserver? (y/N) " user_input
+    
+  if [[ $user_input != "Y" && $user_input != "y" ]]; then
+    exit 1
+  fi
+
+  if ! (mysql -u "$USER" -Bse "USE comm;" 2>/dev/null); then
+    echo "Database comm doesn't exist. Please re-enter 'nix develop'"
+    exit 1
+  fi
+
+  num_of_tables=$(mysql -u "$USER" -Bse "USE comm; SHOW TABLES;" | wc -l);
+
+  if [[ "$num_of_tables" -gt 0 ]]; then
+    # Create backup db and move all tables from comm
+    timestamp=$(date +%s)
+    db_version_name="comm_backup$timestamp"
+    echo "backup db name: $db_version_name"
+
+    mysql -u "$USER" -Bse "CREATE DATABASE $db_version_name;"\
+      -Bse "GRANT ALL ON $db_version_name"'.*'" TO comm@localhost;"
+
+    for table in $(mysql -u "$USER" -Bse "USE comm; SHOW TABLES FROM comm;"); do 
+      mysql -u "$USER" -Bse "USE comm; RENAME TABLE comm.$table TO $db_version_name.$table;"; 
+    done;
+  fi
+
+  node "$PRJ_ROOT"/scripts/set-user-credentials.js "$PRJ_ROOT"
+}
+
+if grep -q '"usingIdentityCredentials":.*true' "$user_credentials_file"; then    
+  if ! (mysql -u "$USER" -Bse "USE comm; SELECT * FROM metadata" 2>/dev/null | grep "db_version">/dev/null); then
+    echo -e "'usingIdentityCredentials' is set to true, but the database is not set up.\n" \
+      "This was likely caused by the keyserver failing to login with the provided credentials,"\
+      "or the keyserver never being run"
+    set_up_or_abort
+  fi
+else
+  echo "'usingIdentityCredentials' is missing or set to false in user_credentials.json."
+  set_up_or_abort
+fi
diff --git a/scripts/set-user-credentials.js b/scripts/set-user-credentials.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..839e6c2ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/set-user-credentials.js
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+/* eslint-disable flowtype/require-valid-file-annotation */
+
+const basePath = process.argv[2];
+
+const fs = require('fs');
+const readline = require('readline');
+
+// Create an interface for reading input
+const rl = readline.createInterface({
+  input: process.stdin,
+  output: process.stdout,
+});
+
+const data = {};
+
+rl.question('username: ', value1 => {
+  data.username = value1;
+
+  rl.question('password: ', value2 => {
+    data.password = value2;
+
+    writeFiles(data);
+
+    // Close the readline interface
+    rl.close();
+  });
+});
+
+function writeFiles(credentials) {
+  try {
+    const userCredentials = {
+      username: credentials.username,
+      password: credentials.password,
+      usingIdentityCredentials: true,
+    };
+    const userCredentialsJSON = JSON.stringify(userCredentials, null, 2);
+    const keyserverSecrets = `${basePath}/keyserver/secrets`;
+    if (!fs.existsSync(keyserverSecrets)) {
+      fs.mkdirSync(keyserverSecrets);
+    }
+    fs.writeFileSync(
+      `${keyserverSecrets}/user_credentials.json`,
+      userCredentialsJSON,
+    );
+  } catch (e) {
+    console.error(
+      'Failure creating configuration files: ' +
+        'admin data could not be correctly written',
+    );
+    throw e;
+  }
+}