diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 754637f..bbd6665 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ See [troubleshooting faq](TROUBLESHOOTING.md)
 
 Installing and running dev-nginx will start an [nginx](https://nginx.org/en/) server instance locally on your machine.
 
-This instance will use any `*.conf` files found locally within the directory `/nginx/servers` to generate a virtual server host to proxy requests to localhost. You can locate this directory with the command `dev-nginx locate-nginx`.
+This instance will use any `*.conf` files found locally within the directory `/nginx/servers` to generate a virtual server host to proxy requests to localhost. You can locate this directory with the command `dev-nginx locate`.
 
 Each project config should include http directives for proxy localhost ports and necessary SSL certificates. This is quite repetitive, so `dev-nginx` abstracts it away with the `setup-app` and `setup-cert` commands.
 
@@ -71,10 +71,11 @@ dev-nginx COMMAND <OPTIONS>
 Available commands:
 - add-to-hosts-file
 - link-config
-- locate-nginx
-- restart-nginx
+- locate
+- restart
 - setup-app
 - setup-cert
+- start
 ```
 
 ### Commands
@@ -93,20 +94,27 @@ If it does not already exist, adds an entry to `/etc/hosts` that resolves to `12
 dev-nginx link-config /path/to/site.conf
 ```
 
-Symlink an existing file into nginx configuration. You'll need to restart nginx to activate it (`dev-nginx restart-nginx`).
+Symlink an existing file into nginx configuration. You'll need to restart nginx to activate it (`dev-nginx restart`).
 
-#### `locate-nginx`
+#### `locate`
 
 ```bash
-dev-nginx locate-nginx
+dev-nginx locate
 ```
 
 Locates the directory nginx is installed.
 
-#### `restart-nginx`
+#### `start`
+```bash
+dev-nginx start
+```
+
+Starts nginx. Will fail if currently running. Add `-g` to ignore if nginx is currently running.
+
+#### `restart`
 
 ```bash
-dev-nginx restart-nginx
+dev-nginx restart
 ```
 
 Stops, if running, and starts nginx.
diff --git a/script/start b/script/start
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..94477dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/script/start
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -e
+
+# colours
+YELLOW='\033[1;33m'
+NC='\033[0m' # no colour - reset console colour
+
+GRACEFUL=false
+
+function printHelp() {
+  echo "Starts nginx. Will fail if nginx is already running."
+  echo "  Flags:"
+  echo "    -g | --graceful ignore nginx if it's already running"
+  echo "    -h | --help     print this message"
+  exit 0
+}
+
+while test $# -gt 0; do
+  case "$1" in
+    -g|--graceful)
+      GRACEFUL=true
+      shift
+      ;;
+    -h|--help)
+      printHelp
+      shift
+      ;;
+    *)
+      break
+      ;;
+  esac
+done
+
+if pgrep 'nginx' > /dev/null; then
+  if [ "$GRACEFUL" = true ] ; then
+    exit 0
+  else
+    echo -e "Error: nginx already running. Did you mean ${YELLOW}dev-nginx restart${NC} or ${YELLOW}dev-nginx start -g${NC}?"
+    exit 1
+  fi
+else
+  echo -e "${YELLOW}Starting nginx. This requires sudo access.${NC}"
+  sudo nginx
+fi