diff --git a/src/cli/commands/pin/add.js b/src/cli/commands/pin/add.js
index a0ff92806b..17238076e9 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands/pin/add.js
+++ b/src/cli/commands/pin/add.js
@@ -7,6 +7,13 @@ const log = debug('cli:pin')
 log.error = debug('cli:pin:error')
 const bs58 = require('bs58')
 
+const onError = (err) => {
+  if (err) {
+    console.error(err)
+    throw err
+  }
+}
+
 module.exports = Command.extend({
   desc: 'Pins objects to local storage.',
 
@@ -21,53 +28,46 @@ module.exports = Command.extend({
 
   run: (recursive, path) => {
     utils.getIPFS((err, ipfs) => {
-      if (err) {
-        console.error(err)
-        throw err
-      }
-      const matched = path.match(/^(?:\/ipfs\/)?([^\/]+(?:\/[^\/]+)*)\/?$/)
-      if (!matched) {
-        err = new Error('invalid ipfs ref path')
-        console.error(err)
-        throw err
-      }
-      const split = matched[1].split('/')
-      const rootHash = split[0]
-      const key = new Buffer(bs58.decode(rootHash))
-      const links = split.slice(1, split.length)
-      const pathFn = (err, obj) => {
-        if (err) {
-          console.error(err)
-          throw err
+      onError(err)
+      // load persistent pin set from datastore
+      ipfs.pinner.load(() => {
+        const matched = path.match(/^(?:\/ipfs\/)?([^\/]+(?:\/[^\/]+)*)\/?$/)
+        if (!matched) {
+          onError(new Error('invalid ipfs ref path'))
         }
-        if (links.length) {
-          const linkName = links.shift()
-          const nextLink = obj.links.filter((link) => {
-            return (link.name === linkName)
-          })
-          if (!nextLink.length) {
-            err = new Error(
-              'pin: no link named ' + linkName +
-              ' under ' + obj.toJSON().Hash
-            )
-            console.error(err)
-            throw err
-          }
-          const nextHash = nextLink[0].hash
-          ipfs.object.get(nextHash, pathFn)
-        } else {
-          ipfs.pinner.pin(obj, recursive, (err) => {
-            if (err) {
-              console.error(err)
-              throw err
+        const split = matched[1].split('/')
+        const rootHash = split[0]
+        const key = new Buffer(bs58.decode(rootHash))
+        const links = split.slice(1, split.length)
+        const pathFn = (err, obj) => {
+          onError(err)
+          if (links.length) {
+            const linkName = links.shift()
+            const nextLink = obj.links.filter((link) => {
+              return (link.name === linkName)
+            })
+            if (!nextLink.length) {
+              onError(new Error(
+                'pin: no link named ' + linkName +
+                ' under ' + obj.toJSON().Hash
+              ))
             }
-            const mode = recursive ? ' recursively' : ' directly'
-            console.log('pinned ' + obj.toJSON().Hash + mode)
-          })
+            const nextHash = nextLink[0].hash
+            ipfs.object.get(nextHash, pathFn)
+          } else {
+            ipfs.pinner.pin(obj, recursive, (err) => {
+              onError(err)
+              // save modified pin state to datastore
+              ipfs.pinner.flush((err, root) => {
+                onError(err)
+                const mode = recursive ? ' recursively' : ' directly'
+                console.log('pinned ' + obj.toJSON().Hash + mode)
+              })
+            })
+          }
         }
-      }
-
-      ipfs.object.get(key, pathFn)
+        ipfs.object.get(key, pathFn)
+      })
     })
   }
 })
diff --git a/src/cli/commands/pin/rm.js b/src/cli/commands/pin/rm.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..79aa33a7ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cli/commands/pin/rm.js
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+'use strict'
+
+const Command = require('ronin').Command
+const utils = require('../../utils')
+const debug = require('debug')
+const log = debug('cli:pin')
+log.error = debug('cli:pin:error')
+const bs58 = require('bs58')
+
+const onError = (err) => {
+  if (err) {
+    console.error(err)
+    throw err
+  }
+}
+
+module.exports = Command.extend({
+  desc: 'Removes the pinned object from local storage.',
+
+  options: {
+    recursive: {
+      alias: 'r',
+      type: 'boolean',
+      default: true
+    }
+  },
+
+  run: (recursive, path) => {
+    utils.getIPFS((err, ipfs) => {
+      onError(err)
+      // load persistent pin set from datastore
+      ipfs.pinner.load(() => {
+        const matched = path.match(/^(?:\/ipfs\/)?([^\/]+(?:\/[^\/]+)*)\/?$/)
+        if (!matched) {
+          onError(new Error('invalid ipfs ref path'))
+        }
+        const split = matched[1].split('/')
+        const rootHash = split[0]
+        const key = new Buffer(bs58.decode(rootHash))
+        const links = split.slice(1, split.length)
+        const pathFn = (err, obj) => {
+          onError(err)
+          if (links.length) {
+            const linkName = links.shift()
+            const nextLink = obj.links.filter((link) => {
+              return (link.name === linkName)
+            })
+            if (!nextLink.length) {
+              onError(new Error(
+                'pin: no link named ' + linkName +
+                ' under ' + obj.toJSON().Hash
+              ))
+            }
+            const nextHash = nextLink[0].hash
+            ipfs.object.get(nextHash, pathFn)
+          } else {
+            ipfs.pinner.unpin(obj.multihash(), recursive, (err) => {
+              onError(err)
+              // save modified pin state to datastore
+              ipfs.pinner.flush((err, root) => {
+                onError(err)
+                console.log('unpinned ' + obj.toJSON().Hash)
+              })
+            })
+          }
+        }
+        ipfs.object.get(key, pathFn)
+      })
+    })
+  }
+})
diff --git a/test/cli/test-pin.js b/test/cli/test-pin.js
index 3a7892a9f3..033015bb4b 100644
--- a/test/cli/test-pin.js
+++ b/test/cli/test-pin.js
@@ -54,5 +54,34 @@ describe('pin', function () {
           done()
         })
     })
+    it('add (direct)', (done) => {
+      nexpect.spawn('node', [bin, 'pin', 'add', '--recursive=false',
+                    keys['leaf.json']], opts)
+        .run((err, stdout, exitcode) => {
+          expect(err).to.not.exist
+          expect(exitcode).to.equal(0)
+          expect(stdout[0]).to.equal('pinned ' + keys['leaf.json'] + ' directly')
+          done()
+        })
+    })
+    it('rm (recursively by default)', (done) => {
+      nexpect.spawn('node', [bin, 'pin', 'rm', rootHash], opts)
+        .run((err, stdout, exitcode) => {
+          expect(err).to.not.exist
+          expect(exitcode).to.equal(0)
+          expect(stdout[0]).to.equal('unpinned ' + rootHash)
+          done()
+        })
+    })
+    it('rm (direct)', (done) => {
+      nexpect.spawn('node', [bin, 'pin', 'rm', '--recursive=false',
+                    keys['leaf.json']], opts)
+        .run((err, stdout, exitcode) => {
+          expect(err).to.not.exist
+          expect(exitcode).to.equal(0)
+          expect(stdout[0]).to.equal('unpinned ' + keys['leaf.json'])
+          done()
+        })
+    })
   })
 })