diff --git a/deploy/add-placeholder-site.sh b/deploy/add-placeholder-site.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..822615e13319f68ebe17b018deef2d93e199f66a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deploy/add-placeholder-site.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+if [ $# -ge 3 ]; then
+  SERVER=$1
+  DOMAIN=$2
+  PEMFILE=$3
+else
+  echo "Usage: sh ./deploy/add-placeholder-site.sh server domain pemfile [user]"
+  exit 1
+fi
+if [ $# -ge 4 ]; then
+  USER=$4
+else
+  USER="core"
+fi
+echo "Adding $DOMAIN to $SERVER with cert from $PEMFILE"
+echo "Remote user is $USER"
+
+ssh $USER@$SERVER sudo mkdir -p /data/per-user/$DOMAIN/nginx/data
+scp $PEMFILE $USER@$SERVER:/data/server-wide/haproxy/approved-certs/$DOMAIN.pem
+ssh $USER@$SERVER sudo sh /data/indiehosters/scripts/activate-user.sh $DOMAIN nginx