diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 9038b4c..e72bc94 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package main
 import (
     "database/sql"
     "encoding/json"
+    "flag"
     "fmt"
     "html/template"
     "log"
@@ -219,6 +220,11 @@ func ensureAdminUser(db *sql.DB, config *handlers.Config) error {
 }
 
 func main() {
+    // Define command-line flag for initialization
+    initialize := flag.Bool("initialize", false, "Initialize database tables and admin user")
+    flag.BoolVar(initialize, "i", false, "Short for --initialize")
+    flag.Parse()
+
     config, err := loadConfig("config/config.json")
     if err != nil {
         log.Fatal("Error loading config:", err)
@@ -231,17 +237,25 @@ func main() {
     }
     defer db.Close()
 
-    // Create tables if they don't exist
-    err = createTablesIfNotExist(db)
-    if err != nil {
-        log.Fatal("Error creating database tables:", err)
+    // Perform initialization if the flag is set
+    if *initialize {
+        log.Println("Initializing database...")
+        err = createTablesIfNotExist(db)
+        if err != nil {
+            log.Fatal("Error creating database tables:", err)
+        }
+
+        err = ensureAdminUser(db, config)
+        if err != nil {
+            log.Fatal("Error ensuring admin user:", err)
+        }
+
+        log.Println("Initialization completed successfully. Exiting.")
+        return
     }
 
-    // Ensure admin user exists
-    err = ensureAdminUser(db, config)
-    if err != nil {
-        log.Fatal("Error ensuring admin user:", err)
-    }
+    // Normal startup (without automatic table creation)
+    log.Println("Starting ThreadR server...")
 
     dir, err := os.Getwd()
     if err != nil {