diff --git a/cmd/init.go b/cmd/init.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..471c2b46
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/init.go
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+// Copyright 2021 The Witness Contributors
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package cmd
+
+import (
+	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+)
+
+const (
+	defaultPath = "template.witness.yml"
+)
+
+func InitCmd() *cobra.Command {
+	cmd := &cobra.Command{
+		Use:                   "init",
+		Short:                 "Generate a template configuration file with empty values.",
+		Long:                  "Generate a template configuration file with empty values. The output file path can be specified as an argument, otherwise a default path of 'template.witness.yml' will be used.",
+		DisableFlagsInUseLine: true,
+		DisableAutoGenTag:     true,
+		Args:                  cobra.MatchAll(cobra.ExactArgs(1)),
+		RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
+			var path string
+			if len(args) == 0 {
+				path = defaultPath
+			} else {
+				path = args[0]
+			}
+
+			if err := GenConfig(New(), path); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			return nil
+		},
+	}
+	return cmd
+}
diff --git a/cmd/root.go b/cmd/root.go
index 6976e107..0200df51 100644
--- a/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/root.go
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ func New() *cobra.Command {
 	cmd.AddCommand(VerifyCmd())
 	cmd.AddCommand(RunCmd())
 	cmd.AddCommand(CompletionCmd())
-	cmd.AddCommand(GenConfigCmd())
+	cmd.AddCommand(InitCmd())
 	cmd.AddCommand(versionCmd())
 	cobra.OnInitialize(func() { preRoot(cmd, ro, logger) })
 	return cmd