diff --git a/cme/cmedb.py b/cme/cmedb.py
index feb45c27..a0e71f33 100644
--- a/cme/cmedb.py
+++ b/cme/cmedb.py
@@ -485,6 +485,36 @@ def delete_workspace(workspace_name):
     shutil.rmtree(os.path.join(WORKSPACE_DIR, workspace_name))
 
 
+def create_workspace(workspace_name, p_loader, protocols):
+    os.mkdir(os.path.join(WORKSPACE_DIR, workspace_name))
+
+    for protocol in protocols.keys():
+        try:
+            protocol_object = p_loader.load_protocol(protocols[protocol]['dbpath'])
+        except KeyError:
+            continue
+        proto_db_path = os.path.join(WORKSPACE_DIR, workspace_name, protocol + '.db')
+
+        if not os.path.exists(proto_db_path):
+            print('[*] Initializing {} protocol database'.format(protocol.upper()))
+            conn = sqlite3.connect(proto_db_path)
+            c = conn.cursor()
+
+            # try to prevent some weird sqlite I/O errors
+            c.execute('PRAGMA journal_mode = OFF')
+            c.execute('PRAGMA foreign_keys = 1')
+
+            getattr(protocol_object, 'database').db_schema(c)
+
+            # commit the changes and close everything off
+            conn.commit()
+            conn.close()
+
+
+def delete_workspace(workspace_name):
+    shutil.rmtree(os.path.join(WORKSPACE_DIR, workspace_name))
+
+
 def initialize_db(logger):
     if not os.path.exists(os.path.join(WS_PATH, 'default')):
         logger.info('Creating default workspace')