diff --git a/planemo/commands/cmd_slurm_init.py b/planemo/commands/cmd_slurm_init.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bb02864aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/planemo/commands/cmd_slurm_init.py
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+"""Module describing the planemo ``slurm_init`` command."""
+
+import shutil
+import tempfile
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import click
+
+from planemo.cli import command_function
+from planemo.io import (
+    info,
+    shell,
+    untar_to,
+)
+
+SLRUM_DRMAA_VERSION = "1.1.5"
+DOWNLOAD_URL = f"https://github.com/natefoo/slurm-drmaa/releases/download/{SLRUM_DRMAA_VERSION}/slurm-drmaa-{SLRUM_DRMAA_VERSION}.tar.gz"
+
+
+@click.command("slurm_init")
+@command_function
+def cli(ctx, **kwds):
+    """Initialize a copy of the SLURM DRMAA library."""
+    dest = Path(ctx.workspace) / "libdrmaa.so"
+    tempdir = Path(tempfile.mkdtemp())
+    tar_args = ["-zxf", "-", "--strip-components=1"]
+    try:
+        # This used to show the wget command (and in fact use wget), it doesn't anymore but
+        # this should be restored. The point is to show developers what is happening and how to do it.
+        untar_to(DOWNLOAD_URL, tar_args=tar_args, dest_dir=str(tempdir))
+        shell(["mkdir", "dest"], cwd=str(tempdir))
+        shell(["./autogen.sh"], cwd=str(tempdir))
+        shell(["./configure", f"--prefix={tempdir}/dist"], cwd=str(tempdir))
+        shell(["make"], cwd=str(tempdir))
+        shell(["make", "install"], cwd=str(tempdir))
+        lib_path = tempdir / "dist" / "lib" / "libdrmaa.so"
+        link_target = lib_path.readlink()
+        target_file = tempdir / "dist" / "lib" / link_target
+        shutil.copy(target_file, dest)
+        info(f"SLURM DRMAA library initialized successfully and copied to {dest}")
+    finally:
+        shutil.rmtree(tempdir)