diff --git a/core/CMakeLists.txt b/core/CMakeLists.txt
index 1ed24019c..51ccf608f 100644
--- a/core/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/core/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@ if(FTDISUPPORT)
 	set(SERIAL_FTDI serial_ftdi.c)
 endif()
 
+if (SUBSURFACE_TARGET_EXECUTABLE MATCHES "DownloaderExecutable")
+	set(DOWNLOADER cli-downloader.cpp)
+endif()
+
 if(BTSUPPORT)
 	add_definitions(-DBT_SUPPORT)
 	set(BT_SRC_FILES desktop-widgets/btdeviceselectiondialog.cpp)
@@ -252,6 +256,7 @@ set(SUBSURFACE_CORE_LIB_SRCS
 	${SERIAL_FTDI}
 	${PLATFORM_SRC}
 	${BT_CORE_SRC_FILES}
+	${DOWNLOADER}
 )
 source_group("Subsurface Core" FILES ${SUBSURFACE_CORE_LIB_SRCS})
 
diff --git a/core/cli-downloader.cpp b/core/cli-downloader.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b4a8854aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/cli-downloader.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+#include "qt-models/diveimportedmodel.h"
+
+#include <QObject>
+#include <QUndoStack>
+
+extern "C"
+void cliDownloader(const char *vendor, const char *product, const char *device)
+{
+	DiveImportedModel *diveImportedModel = new DiveImportedModel();
+	DiveImportedModel::connect(diveImportedModel, &DiveImportedModel::downloadFinished, [] {
+		// do something useful at the end of the download
+	});
+
+	auto data = diveImportedModel->thread.data();
+	data->setVendor(vendor);
+	data->setProduct(product);
+	if (data->vendor() == "Uemis") {
+		char *colon;
+		char *devname = strdup(device);
+		if ((colon = strstr(devname, ":\\ (UEMISSDA)")) != NULL) {
+			*(colon + 2) = '\0';
+			fprintf(stderr, "shortened devname to \"%s\"", devname);
+		}
+		data->setDevName(devname);
+	} else {
+		data->setDevName(device);
+	}
+
+	// some assumptiond - should all be configurable
+	data->setForceDownload(false);
+	data->setSaveLog(false);
+	data->setSaveDump(false);
+
+	// before we start, remember where the dive_table ended
+	diveImportedModel->startDownload();
+}