diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 17c23d1158c6..b942835c6d8b 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -61,7 +61,6 @@ ldflags = -X github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/version.Name=sim \
 		-X "github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/version.BuildTags=$(build_tags_comma_sep)" \
 		-X github.com/cometbft/cometbft/version.TMCoreSemVer=$(CMTVERSION)
 
-
 # DB backend selection
 ifeq (cleveldb,$(findstring cleveldb,$(COSMOS_BUILD_OPTIONS)))
   build_tags += gcc
@@ -189,6 +188,13 @@ build-docs:
 ###                           Tests & Simulation                            ###
 ###############################################################################
 
+# make init-simapp initializes a single local node network
+# it is useful for testing and development
+# Usage: make install && make init-simapp && simd start
+# Warning: make init-simapp will remove all data in simapp home directory
+init-simapp:
+	./scripts/init-simapp.sh
+
 test: test-unit
 test-e2e:
 	$(MAKE) -C tests test-e2e
diff --git a/scripts/init-simapp.sh b/scripts/init-simapp.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..5db89d2c5066
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/init-simapp.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+SIMD_BIN=${SIMD_BIN:=$(which simd 2>/dev/null)}
+
+if [ -z "$SIMD_BIN" ]; then echo "SIMD_BIN is not set. Make sure to run make install before"; exit 1; fi
+echo "using $SIMD_BIN"
+if [ -d "$($SIMD_BIN config home)" ]; then rm -r $($SIMD_BIN config home); fi
+$SIMD_BIN config set client chain-id demo
+$SIMD_BIN config set client keyring-backend test
+$SIMD_BIN keys add alice
+$SIMD_BIN keys add bob
+$SIMD_BIN init test --chain-id demo
+$SIMD_BIN genesis add-genesis-account alice 5000000000stake --keyring-backend test
+$SIMD_BIN genesis add-genesis-account bob 5000000000stake --keyring-backend test
+$SIMD_BIN genesis gentx alice 1000000stake --chain-id demo
+$SIMD_BIN genesis collect-gentxs
\ No newline at end of file