diff --git a/cake/console/console_option_parser.php b/cake/console/console_option_parser.php
index c500d79ecf1..80685d9f185 100644
--- a/cake/console/console_option_parser.php
+++ b/cake/console/console_option_parser.php
@@ -161,6 +161,9 @@ public static function create($command, $defaultOptions = true) {
  *		),
  *		'options' => array(
  *			// list of options compatible with addOptions
+ *		),
+ *		'subcommands' => array(
+ *			// list of subcommands to add.
  *		)
  * );
  * }}}
@@ -176,6 +179,9 @@ public static function buildFromArray($spec) {
 		if (!empty($spec['options'])) {
 			$parser->addOptions($spec['options']);
 		}
+		if (!empty($spec['subcommands'])) {
+			$parser->addSubcommands($spec['subcommands']);
+		}
 		if (!empty($spec['description'])) {
 			$parser->description($spec['description']);
 		}
@@ -362,6 +368,19 @@ public function addSubcommand($name, $params = array()) {
 		return $this;
 	}
 
+/**
+ * Add multiple subcommands at once.
+ *
+ * @param array $commands Array of subcommands.
+ * @return $this
+ */
+	public function addSubcommands(array $commands) {
+		foreach ($commands as $name => $params) {
+			$this->addSubcommand($name, $params);
+		}
+		return $this;
+	}
+
 /**
  * Gets the arguments defined in the parser.
  *
diff --git a/cake/tests/cases/console/console_option_parser.test.php b/cake/tests/cases/console/console_option_parser.test.php
index b7e6c066b40..f80092b4e24 100644
--- a/cake/tests/cases/console/console_option_parser.test.php
+++ b/cake/tests/cases/console/console_option_parser.test.php
@@ -323,6 +323,22 @@ function testSubcommand() {
 		$this->assertEquals($parser, $result, 'Adding a subcommand is not chainable');
 	}
 
+/**
+ * test adding multiple subcommands
+ *
+ * @return void
+ */
+	function testAddSubcommands() {
+		$parser = new ConsoleOptionParser();
+		$result = $parser->addSubcommands(array(
+			'initdb' => array('help' => 'Initialize the database'),
+			'create' => array('help' => 'Create something')
+		));
+		$this->assertEquals($parser, $result, 'Adding a subcommands is not chainable');
+		$result = $parser->subcommands();
+		$this->assertEquals(2, count($result), 'Not enough subcommands');
+	}
+
 /**
  * test getting help with defined options.
  *
@@ -523,6 +539,9 @@ function testBuildFromArray() {
 				'name' => array('help' => 'The name'),
 				'other' => array('help' => 'The other arg')
 			),
+			'subcommands' => array(
+				'initdb' => array('help' => 'make database')
+			),
 			'description' => 'description text',
 			'epilog' => 'epilog text'
 		);
@@ -537,6 +556,9 @@ function testBuildFromArray() {
 
 		$args = $parser->arguments();
 		$this->assertEquals(2, count($args));
+		
+		$commands = $parser->subcommands();
+		$this->assertEquals(1, count($commands));
 	}
 
 /**