diff --git a/cli/chain.go b/cli/chain.go
index d00247364..ce1660641 100644
--- a/cli/chain.go
+++ b/cli/chain.go
@@ -337,25 +337,6 @@ var chainSetHeadCmd = &cli.Command{
 	},
 }
 
-func parseTipSet(ctx context.Context, api api.FullNode, vals []string) (*types.TipSet, error) {
-	var headers []*types.BlockHeader
-	for _, c := range vals {
-		blkc, err := cid.Decode(c)
-		if err != nil {
-			return nil, err
-		}
-
-		bh, err := api.ChainGetBlock(ctx, blkc)
-		if err != nil {
-			return nil, err
-		}
-
-		headers = append(headers, bh)
-	}
-
-	return types.NewTipSet(headers)
-}
-
 var chainListCmd = &cli.Command{
 	Name:  "list",
 	Usage: "View a segment of the chain",
diff --git a/cli/sync.go b/cli/sync.go
index d92d6d7c6..bff34960e 100644
--- a/cli/sync.go
+++ b/cli/sync.go
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/filecoin-project/lotus/chain/types"
+
 	"github.com/filecoin-project/go-state-types/abi"
 	cid "github.com/ipfs/go-cid"
 	"github.com/urfave/cli/v2"
@@ -22,6 +24,7 @@ var syncCmd = &cli.Command{
 		syncMarkBadCmd,
 		syncUnmarkBadCmd,
 		syncCheckBadCmd,
+		syncCheckpointCmd,
 	},
 }
 
@@ -179,6 +182,48 @@ var syncCheckBadCmd = &cli.Command{
 	},
 }
 
+var syncCheckpointCmd = &cli.Command{
+	Name:      "checkpoint",
+	Usage:     "mark a certain tipset as checkpointed; the node will never fork away from this tipset",
+	ArgsUsage: "[tipsetKey]",
+	Flags: []cli.Flag{
+		&cli.Uint64Flag{
+			Name:  "epoch",
+			Usage: "checkpoint the tipset at the given epoch",
+		},
+	},
+	Action: func(cctx *cli.Context) error {
+		napi, closer, err := GetFullNodeAPI(cctx)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		defer closer()
+		ctx := ReqContext(cctx)
+
+		var ts *types.TipSet
+
+		if cctx.IsSet("epoch") {
+			ts, err = napi.ChainGetTipSetByHeight(ctx, abi.ChainEpoch(cctx.Uint64("epoch")), types.EmptyTSK)
+		}
+		if ts == nil {
+			ts, err = parseTipSet(ctx, napi, cctx.Args().Slice())
+		}
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		if ts == nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("must pass cids for tipset to set as head, or specify epoch flag")
+		}
+
+		if err := napi.SyncCheckpoint(ctx, ts.Key()); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		return nil
+	},
+}
+
 func SyncWait(ctx context.Context, napi api.FullNode) error {
 	for {
 		state, err := napi.SyncState(ctx)
diff --git a/cli/util.go b/cli/util.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4371f8bbc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cli/util.go
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+package cli
+
+import (
+	"context"
+
+	"github.com/filecoin-project/lotus/api"
+	"github.com/filecoin-project/lotus/chain/types"
+	"github.com/ipfs/go-cid"
+)
+
+func parseTipSet(ctx context.Context, api api.FullNode, vals []string) (*types.TipSet, error) {
+	var headers []*types.BlockHeader
+	for _, c := range vals {
+		blkc, err := cid.Decode(c)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+
+		bh, err := api.ChainGetBlock(ctx, blkc)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+
+		headers = append(headers, bh)
+	}
+
+	return types.NewTipSet(headers)
+}