diff --git a/cli.php b/cli.php
index 69ac2f1..8e239d1 100644
--- a/cli.php
+++ b/cli.php
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ function connectDatabase() {
 }
 
 function printHelp() {
-
+  // TODO: help
 }
 
 function handleDatabase($argv) {
@@ -155,6 +155,31 @@ function handleDatabase($argv) {
 
       proc_close($process);
     }
+  } else {
+    die("Usage: cli.php db <migrate|import|export> [options...]");
+  }
+}
+
+function onMaintenance($argv) {
+  $action = $argv[2] ?? "status";
+  $maintenanceFile = "MAINTENANCE";
+  $isMaintenanceEnabled = file_exists($maintenanceFile);
+
+  if ($action === "status") {
+    die("Maintenance: " . ($isMaintenanceEnabled ? "on" : "off") . "\n");
+  } else if ($action === "on") {
+    $file = fopen($maintenanceFile, 'w') or die("Unable to create maintenance file\n");
+    fclose($file);
+    die("Maintenance enabled\n");
+  } else if ($action === "off") {
+    if (file_exists($maintenanceFile)) {
+      if (!unlink($maintenanceFile)) {
+        die("Unable to delete maintenance file\n");
+      }
+    }
+    die("Maintenance disabled\n");
+  } else {
+    die("Usage: cli.php maintenance <status|on|off>\n");
   }
 }
 
@@ -172,6 +197,10 @@ switch ($command) {
     handleDatabase($argv);
     break;
   case 'routes':
+    // TODO: routes
+    break;
+  case 'maintenance':
+    onMaintenance($argv);
     break;
   default:
     echo "Unknown command '$command'\n\n";
diff --git a/img/maintenance.png b/img/maintenance.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ca3c03
Binary files /dev/null and b/img/maintenance.png differ
diff --git a/index.php b/index.php
index 7830ffc..6bb4965 100644
--- a/index.php
+++ b/index.php
@@ -1,14 +1,21 @@
 <?php
 
+include_once 'core/core.php';
+include_once 'core/datetime.php';
+include_once 'core/constants.php';
+
+if (is_file("MAINTENANCE")) {
+  http_response_code(503);
+  $currentDir = dirname(__FILE__);
+  serveStatic($currentDir, "/static/maintenance.html");
+  die();
+}
+
 use Api\Request;
 use Configuration\Configuration;
 use Documents\Document404;
 use Elements\Document;
 
-include_once 'core/core.php';
-include_once 'core/datetime.php';
-include_once 'core/constants.php';
-
 if (!is_readable(getClassPath(Configuration::class))) {
   header("Content-Type: application/json");
   die(json_encode(array( "success" => false, "msg" => "Configuration directory is not readable, check permissions before proceeding." )));
diff --git a/static/maintenance.html b/static/maintenance.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d954309
--- /dev/null
+++ b/static/maintenance.html
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<head>
+  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
+  <meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=yes">
+  <meta charset="utf-8">
+  <meta http-equiv="expires" content="0">
+  <meta name="robots" content="noarchive">
+  <title>Maintenance</title>
+  <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/bootstrap.min.css" type="text/css">
+  <script type="text/javascript" src="/js/bootstrap.bundle.min.js"></script>
+  <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/fontawesome.min.css" type="text/css">
+</head>
+<body>
+  <div class="container mt-5">
+    <div class="row">
+      <div class="col-md-6">
+        <div class="error-template pt-5 pl-5">
+          <h1>Service unavailable</h1>
+          <h3>Temporarily down for maintenance</h3>
+          <div>
+            <p>
+              Sorry for the inconvenience but we're performing some maintenance at the moment.
+              we'll be back online shortly!
+            </p>
+          </div>
+          <a href="javascript:document.location.reload()" class="btn btn-info btn-lg mt-3">
+            <i class="fa fa-redo mr-2"></i>Retry
+          </a>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+      <div class="col-md-6 text-center pt-5">
+        <img src="/img/maintenance.png" alt="[maintenance]">
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+</body>
\ No newline at end of file
