diff --git a/bookwyrm/management/commands/admin_code.py b/bookwyrm/management/commands/admin_code.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..73531109a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bookwyrm/management/commands/admin_code.py
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+""" Get your admin code to allow install """
+from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand
+
+from bookwyrm import models
+
+def get_admin_code():
+    """get that code"""
+    return models.SiteSettings.objects.get().admin_code
+
+class Command(BaseCommand):
+    """command-line options"""
+
+    help = "Gets admin code for configuring BookWyrm"
+
+    # pylint: disable=unused-argument
+    def handle(self, *args, **options):
+        """execute init"""
+        self.stdout.write(get_admin_code())
diff --git a/bookwyrm/management/commands/generate_preview_images.py b/bookwyrm/management/commands/generate_preview_images.py
index df2186238..0454e5e51 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/management/commands/generate_preview_images.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/management/commands/generate_preview_images.py
@@ -10,7 +10,9 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
 
     help = "Generate preview images"
 
+    # pylint: disable=no-self-use
     def add_arguments(self, parser):
+        """options for how the command is run"""
         parser.add_argument(
             "--all",
             "-a",
@@ -38,6 +40,7 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
         preview_images.generate_site_preview_image_task.delay()
         self.stdout.write(" OK 🖼")
 
+        # pylint: disable=consider-using-f-string
         if options["all"]:
             # Users
             users = models.User.objects.filter(
diff --git a/bookwyrm/templates/setup/admin.html b/bookwyrm/templates/setup/admin.html
index 713577d5e..8bba55a8d 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/templates/setup/admin.html
+++ b/bookwyrm/templates/setup/admin.html
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
                         <p class="help" id="desc_admin_key">
                         {% blocktrans trimmed %}
                             An admin key was created when you installed BookWyrm.
-                            You can get your admin key by running <code>./bw-dev admin-code</code> from the command line on your server.
+                            You can get your admin key by running <code>./bw-dev admin_code</code> from the command line on your server.
                         {% endblocktrans %}
                         </p>
                     </div>
diff --git a/bw-dev b/bw-dev
index 04d14ba0a..478754cbe 100755
--- a/bw-dev
+++ b/bw-dev
@@ -197,6 +197,9 @@ case "$CMD" in
             --endpoint-url ${AWS_S3_ENDPOINT_URL}\
             --cors-configuration file:///bw/$config_file" "$@"
         ;;
+    admin_code)
+        runweb python manage.py admin_code
+        ;;
     runweb)
         runweb "$@"
         ;;
diff --git a/complete_bwdev.sh b/complete_bwdev.sh
index 6dd574541..52d755333 100644
--- a/complete_bwdev.sh
+++ b/complete_bwdev.sh
@@ -30,4 +30,5 @@ generate_thumbnails
 generate_preview_images
 copy_media_to_s3
 set_cors_to_s3
+admin_code
 runweb" -o bashdefault -o default bw-dev