diff --git a/doublethink/cli.py b/doublethink/cli.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..630ef6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doublethink/cli.py
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+'''
+doublethink/cli.py - doublethink Command Line Tools
+
+Copyright (C) 2017 Internet Archive
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+'''
+
+import os, sys
+import argparse
+import doublethink
+import logging
+
+def purge_stale_services(argv=None):
+    """Command-line utility to periodically purge stale entries from the "services" table.
+
+    It is designed to be used in conjunction with cron.
+    """
+    argv = argv or sys.argv
+    arg_parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+            prog=os.path.basename(argv[0]),
+            description='doublethink-purge-stale-services: utility to periodically purge stale entries from the "services" table.')
+
+    arg_parser.add_argument("-d", "--rethinkdb-db", required=True,
+        dest="database",
+        help="A RethinkDB database containing a 'services' table")
+
+    arg_parser.add_argument("-s", "--rethinkdb-servers",
+        metavar="SERVERS", dest="servers", default='localhost',
+        help="rethinkdb servers, e.g. db0.foo.org,db0.foo.org:38015,db1.foo.org")
+
+    arg_parser.add_argument(
+        '-v', '--verbose', dest='log_level', action='store_const',
+        default=logging.INFO, const=logging.DEBUG, help=(
+                'verbose logging'))
+    args = arg_parser.parse_args(argv[1:])
+    logging.basicConfig(
+            stream=sys.stdout, level=args.log_level, format=(
+                '%(asctime)s %(process)d %(levelname)s %(threadName)s '
+                '%(name)s.%(funcName)s(%(filename)s:%(lineno)d) %(message)s'))
+
+    args.servers = [srv.strip() for srv in args.servers.split(",")]
+
+    rethinker = doublethink.Rethinker(servers=args.servers, db=args.database)
+    registry = doublethink.services.ServiceRegistry(rethinker)
+    registry.purge_stale_services()
+    return 0
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doublethink/services.py b/doublethink/services.py
index 38a0f93..2289190 100644
--- a/doublethink/services.py
+++ b/doublethink/services.py
@@ -312,3 +312,11 @@ class ServiceRegistry(object):
     available_service = healthy_service
     available_services = healthy_services
 
+    def purge_stale_services(self, ttls_until_deletion=2):
+        query = self.rr.table('services').filter(
+                lambda svc: r.now().sub(svc["last_heartbeat"]).gt(svc["ttl"] * ttls_until_deletion)
+            ).delete()
+        logging.debug("Running query: %s", query)
+        result = query.run()
+        logging.debug("Results: %s", result)
+        return result
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 48d7ea7..f4b5174 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -18,4 +18,9 @@ setuptools.setup(
     description='rethinkdb python library',
     long_description=codecs.open(
         'README.rst', mode='r', encoding='utf-8').read(),
+    entry_points={
+            'console_scripts': [
+                'doublethink-purge-stale-services=doublethink.cli:purge_stale_services',
+            ]
+    },
 )
diff --git a/tests/run-tests.sh b/tests/run-tests.sh
index 78464ba..ff06b7f 100755
--- a/tests/run-tests.sh
+++ b/tests/run-tests.sh
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ do
     docker run --rm -it --volume="$script_dir/..:/doublethink" internetarchive/rethinkdb /sbin/my_init -- \
         bash -x -c "cd /tmp && git clone /doublethink \
                 && cd /tmp/doublethink \
-                && (cd /doublethink && git diff) | patch -p1 \
+                && (cd /doublethink && git diff HEAD) | patch -p1 \
                 && virtualenv -p $python /tmp/venv \
                 && source /tmp/venv/bin/activate \
                 && pip install pytest . \
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f26c6bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+'''
+test_cli.py - unit tests for doublethink CLI
+
+Copyright (C) 2015-2017 Internet Archive
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+'''
+
+import doublethink
+import doublethink.cli
+import logging
+import sys
+import pytest
+import rethinkdb as r
+import pkg_resources
+
+logging.basicConfig(stream=sys.stderr, level=logging.INFO,
+        format="%(asctime)s %(process)d %(levelname)s %(threadName)s %(name)s.%(funcName)s(%(filename)s:%(lineno)d) %(message)s")
+
+class RethinkerForTesting(doublethink.Rethinker):
+    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        super(RethinkerForTesting, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+
+    def _random_server_connection(self):
+        self.last_conn = super(RethinkerForTesting, self)._random_server_connection()
+        # logging.info("self.last_conn=%s", self.last_conn)
+        return self.last_conn
+
+@pytest.fixture(scope="module")
+def rr():
+    rr = RethinkerForTesting()
+    try:
+        rr.db_drop("doublethink_test_db").run()
+    except r.errors.ReqlOpFailedError:
+        pass
+    result = rr.db_create("doublethink_test_db").run()
+    assert not rr.last_conn.is_open()
+    assert result["dbs_created"] == 1
+    return RethinkerForTesting(db="doublethink_test_db")
+
+def test_cli(capsys, rr):
+    entrypoint = pkg_resources.get_entry_map(
+            'doublethink')['console_scripts']['doublethink-purge-stale-services']
+    callable = entrypoint.resolve()
+    with pytest.raises(SystemExit) as exit:
+        callable(['doublethink-purge-stale-services'])
+    print(dir(exit))
+    assert exit.value.code != 0
+    out, err = capsys.readouterr()
+    with pytest.raises(SystemExit) as exit:
+        # this wrap with sys.exit matches what occurs in the generated command
+        sys.exit(callable(['doublethink-purge-stale-services', '-d', 'test']))
+    assert exit.value.code == 0
+    out, err = capsys.readouterr()
diff --git a/tests/test_svcreg.py b/tests/test_svcreg.py
index aae5e22..380d115 100644
--- a/tests/test_svcreg.py
+++ b/tests/test_svcreg.py
@@ -258,3 +258,13 @@ def test_svcreg_heartbeat_server_down(rr):
     assert not 'host' in svc0
     assert not 'pid' in svc0
 
+def test_purge_stale_services(rr):
+    rr.table('services').delete().run()
+    rr.table('services').insert({ 'id': 'old-service', "last_heartbeat": r.now(), 'ttl': 0.4 }).run()
+    time.sleep(1)
+    rr.table('services').insert({ 'id': 'new-service', "last_heartbeat": r.now(), 'ttl': 0.4 }).run()
+    svcreg = doublethink.ServiceRegistry(rr)
+    assert rr.table('services').count().run() == 2
+    svcreg.purge_stale_services()
+    assert rr.table('services').count().run() == 1
+    rr.table('services').delete().run()