diff --git a/mft/cli.py b/mft/cli.py
index 350974f..d6ea4c7 100644
--- a/mft/cli.py
+++ b/mft/cli.py
@@ -113,6 +113,8 @@ def db_command(args, settings):
 def db_init_command(args, settings):
     from mft.database import get_db, db_init, SchemaError
 
+    settings.database_path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+
     with get_db() as conn:
         try:
             db_init(conn)