diff --git a/mara_catalog/__init__.py b/mara_catalog/__init__.py
index 487c860..ff6324a 100644
--- a/mara_catalog/__init__.py
+++ b/mara_catalog/__init__.py
@@ -7,4 +7,5 @@ def MARA_CONFIG_MODULES():
 
 
 def MARA_CLICK_COMMANDS():
-    return []
+    from . import cli
+    return [cli.mara_catalog]
diff --git a/mara_catalog/cli.py b/mara_catalog/cli.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eec36db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mara_catalog/cli.py
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+"""Auto-migrate command line interface"""
+
+import click
+
+
+@click.group()
+def mara_catalog():
+    """Commands to interact with data lakes and lakehouses"""
+    pass
+
+
+@mara_catalog.command()
+def connect(
+    catalog: str = None,
+    db_alias: str = None,
+
+    # from mara_pipelines.ui.cli.run_pipeline
+    disable_colors: bool= False
+):
+    """
+    Connects a data lake or lakehouse catalog to a database
+
+    Args:
+        catalog: The catalog to connect to. If not set, all configured catalogs will be connected.
+        db_alias: The db alias the catalog shall be connected to. If not set, the default db alias is taken.
+
+        disable_colors: If true, don't use escape sequences to make the log colorful (default: colorful logging)
+    """
+
+    from mara_pipelines.pipelines import Pipeline, Task
+    from mara_pipelines.commands.python import RunFunction
+    import mara_pipelines.ui.cli
+    import mara_pipelines.config
+    from . import config
+    from .connect import connect_catalog_mara_commands
+
+    # create pipeline
+    pipeline = Pipeline(
+        id='_mara_catalog_connect',
+        description="Connects a catalog with a database")
+
+    def create_schema_if_not_exist(db_alias: str, schema_name: str):
+        import sqlalchemy
+        import sqlalchemy.schema
+        import mara_db.sqlalchemy_engine
+
+        eng = mara_db.sqlalchemy_engine.engine(db_alias)
+
+        if not eng.dialect.has_schema(eng):
+            create_schema = sqlalchemy.schema.CreateSchema(schema_name)
+            print(create_schema)
+            eng.execute(create_schema)
+
+    for catalog_name in [catalog] or config.catalogs():
+        catalog_pipeline = Pipeline(
+            id=catalog_name,
+            description=f"Connect catalog {catalog_name}")
+
+        catalog = config.catalogs()[catalog_name]
+
+        if catalog.schema_name:
+            # create schema if it does not exist
+            catalog_pipeline.add_initial(
+                Task(id='create_schema',
+                     description=f'Creates tthe schema {catalog.schema_name} if it does not exist',
+                     commands=[
+                        RunFunction(
+                            function=create_schema_if_not_exist,
+                            args=[
+                                mara_pipelines.config.default_db_alias(),
+                                catalog.schema_name
+                            ])]))
+
+        for command in connect_catalog_mara_commands(catalog=catalog,
+                                                     db_alias=db_alias or mara_pipelines.config.default_db_alias(),
+                                                     or_replace=True):
+            catalog_pipeline.add(command)
+
+        pipeline.add(catalog_pipeline)
+
+    # run connect pipeline
+    mara_pipelines.ui.cli.run_pipeline(pipeline, disable_colors=disable_colors)
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 54a2fb8..5f8fb0f 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -26,3 +26,4 @@ test =
     pytest-dependency
     mara_app>=2.3.0
     mara-db[postgres,mssql]>=4.9.2
+    mara-pipelines