diff --git a/mu/mu-cmd-server.cc b/mu/mu-cmd-server.cc
index 0b05417f..d6261d60 100644
--- a/mu/mu-cmd-server.cc
+++ b/mu/mu-cmd-server.cc
@@ -1375,6 +1375,12 @@ mu_cmd_server (MuConfig *opts, GError **err) try
         Context context{opts};
         context.command_map = make_command_map (context);
 
+        if (opts->eval) { // evaluate command-line command & exit
+                auto call{Sexp::parse(opts->eval)};
+                invoke(context.command_map, call);
+                return MU_OK;
+        }
+
         const auto histpath{std::string{mu_runtime_path(MU_RUNTIME_PATH_CACHE)} + "/history"};
         Readline readline(histpath, 50);
 
diff --git a/mu/mu-config.c b/mu/mu-config.c
index af98a372..89538cdc 100644
--- a/mu/mu-config.c
+++ b/mu/mu-config.c
@@ -453,6 +453,8 @@ config_options_group_server (void)
 	GOptionEntry entries[] = {
                 {"commands", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_NONE, &MU_CONFIG.commands,
 		 "list the available command and their parameters, then exit", NULL},
+                {"eval", 'e', G_OPTION_FLAG_HIDDEN, G_OPTION_ARG_STRING,
+                 &MU_CONFIG.eval, "expression to evaluate", "<expr>"},
 		{NULL, 0, 0, 0, NULL, NULL, NULL}
 	};
 
@@ -766,6 +768,7 @@ mu_config_uninit (MuConfig *opts)
 	g_free (opts->targetdir);
 	g_free (opts->parts);
 	g_free (opts->script);
+        g_free (opts->eval);
 
 	g_strfreev (opts->params);
 
diff --git a/mu/mu-config.h b/mu/mu-config.h
index 1d1bec00..43418ae0 100644
--- a/mu/mu-config.h
+++ b/mu/mu-config.h
@@ -184,8 +184,9 @@ struct _MuConfig {
 	/* for server */
 	gboolean        commands;        /* dump documentations for server
 					  * commands */
+        gchar          *eval;            /* command to evaluate */
 
-	/* options for mu-script */
+        /* options for mu-script */
 	gchar           *script;         /* script to run */
 	const char      **script_params; /* parameters for scripts */
 };