diff --git a/manage.sh b/manage.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..01391a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/manage.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+CMD=${1:-help}
+PIDFILE="/tmp/merlin-daemon.pid"
+LOGFILE="/tmp/merlin-daemon.log"
+
+case "$CMD" in
+  start)
+    if [ -f "$PIDFILE" ] && kill -0 "$(cat "$PIDFILE")" 2>/dev/null; then
+      echo "Merlin already running (pid $(cat "$PIDFILE"))"
+      exit 0
+    fi
+    conda run -n cf python -m merlin.daemon >> "$LOGFILE" 2>&1 &
+    echo $! > "$PIDFILE"
+    echo "Merlin started (pid $!). Logs: $LOGFILE"
+    ;;
+  stop)
+    if [ -f "$PIDFILE" ]; then
+      kill "$(cat "$PIDFILE")" 2>/dev/null && echo "Merlin stopped"
+      rm -f "$PIDFILE"
+    else
+      echo "Merlin not running"
+    fi
+    ;;
+  restart)
+    bash "$0" stop
+    sleep 1
+    bash "$0" start
+    ;;
+  status)
+    if [ -f "$PIDFILE" ] && kill -0 "$(cat "$PIDFILE")" 2>/dev/null; then
+      echo "Running (pid $(cat "$PIDFILE"))"
+      curl -s http://localhost:8522/status | python3 -m json.tool
+    else
+      echo "Stopped"
+    fi
+    ;;
+  logs)
+    tail -f "$LOGFILE"
+    ;;
+  test)
+    conda run -n cf pytest tests/ -v
+    ;;
+  *)
+    echo "Usage: $0 start|stop|restart|status|logs|test"
+    ;;
+esac