diff --git a/cmd/cc-backend/cli.go b/cmd/cc-backend/cli.go
index 47f534be..3896383a 100644
--- a/cmd/cc-backend/cli.go
+++ b/cmd/cc-backend/cli.go
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ import "flag"
 
 var (
 	flagReinitDB, flagInit, flagServer, flagSyncLDAP, flagGops, flagMigrateDB, flagRevertDB,
-	flagForceDB, flagDev, flagVersion, flagLogDateTime, flagApplyTags, flagOptimizeDB bool
+	flagForceDB, flagDev, flagVersion, flagLogDateTime, flagApplyTags, flagOptimizeDB,
+	flagCleanupCheckpoints bool
 	flagNewUser, flagDelUser, flagGenJWT, flagConfigFile, flagImportJob, flagLogLevel string
 )
 
@@ -28,6 +29,7 @@ func cliInit() {
 	flag.BoolVar(&flagApplyTags, "apply-tags", false, "Run taggers on all completed jobs and exit")
 	flag.BoolVar(&flagForceDB, "force-db", false, "Force database version, clear dirty flag and exit")
 	flag.BoolVar(&flagOptimizeDB, "optimize-db", false, "Optimize database: run VACUUM to reclaim space, then ANALYZE to update query planner statistics")
+	flag.BoolVar(&flagCleanupCheckpoints, "cleanup-checkpoints", false, "Clean up old checkpoint files (delete or archive) based on retention settings, then exit")
 	flag.BoolVar(&flagLogDateTime, "logdate", false, "Set this flag to add date and time to log messages")
 	flag.StringVar(&flagConfigFile, "config", "./config.json", "Specify alternative path to `config.json`")
 	flag.StringVar(&flagNewUser, "add-user", "", "Add a new user. Argument format: <username>:[admin,support,manager,api,user]:<password>")
diff --git a/cmd/cc-backend/main.go b/cmd/cc-backend/main.go
index 12faeae5..f8f0a767 100644
--- a/cmd/cc-backend/main.go
+++ b/cmd/cc-backend/main.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"os/signal"
+	goruntime "runtime"
 	"runtime/debug"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
@@ -536,6 +537,43 @@ func run() error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	// Handle checkpoint cleanup
+	if flagCleanupCheckpoints {
+		mscfg := ccconf.GetPackageConfig("metric-store")
+		if mscfg == nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("metric-store configuration required for checkpoint cleanup")
+		}
+		if err := json.Unmarshal(mscfg, &metricstore.Keys); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("decoding metric-store config: %w", err)
+		}
+		if metricstore.Keys.NumWorkers <= 0 {
+			metricstore.Keys.NumWorkers = min(goruntime.NumCPU()/2+1, metricstore.DefaultMaxWorkers)
+		}
+
+		d, err := time.ParseDuration(metricstore.Keys.RetentionInMemory)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("parsing retention-in-memory: %w", err)
+		}
+		from := time.Now().Add(-d)
+		deleteMode := metricstore.Keys.Cleanup == nil || metricstore.Keys.Cleanup.Mode != "archive"
+		cleanupDir := ""
+		if !deleteMode {
+			cleanupDir = metricstore.Keys.Cleanup.RootDir
+		}
+
+		cclog.Infof("Cleaning up checkpoints older than %s...", from.Format(time.RFC3339))
+		n, err := metricstore.CleanupCheckpoints(
+			metricstore.Keys.Checkpoints.RootDir, cleanupDir, from.Unix(), deleteMode)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("checkpoint cleanup: %w", err)
+		}
+		if deleteMode {
+			cclog.Exitf("Cleanup done: %d checkpoint files deleted.", n)
+		} else {
+			cclog.Exitf("Cleanup done: %d checkpoint files archived to parquet.", n)
+		}
+	}
+
 	// Exit if start server is not requested
 	if !flagServer {
 		cclog.Exit("No errors, server flag not set. Exiting cc-backend.")