diff --git a/cmd/crawl/main.go b/cmd/crawl/main.go
index 83177e7..9cd7de1 100644
--- a/cmd/crawl/main.go
+++ b/cmd/crawl/main.go
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/pippellia-btc/nastro/sqlite"
 	"github.com/vertex-lab/crawler_v2/pkg/config"
-	"github.com/vertex-lab/crawler_v2/pkg/graph"
 	"github.com/vertex-lab/crawler_v2/pkg/pipe"
 	"github.com/vertex-lab/crawler_v2/pkg/redb"
 	"github.com/vertex-lab/crawler_v2/pkg/store"
@@ -61,13 +60,17 @@ func main() {
 	}
 
 	if nodes == 0 {
-		if err := initGraph(ctx, db, config.InitPubkeys); err != nil {
+		log.Println("initializing from empty database...")
+
+		if err := pipe.InitGraph(ctx, db, config.InitPubkeys); err != nil {
 			panic(err)
 		}
 
 		for _, pk := range config.InitPubkeys {
 			fetcherQueue <- pk
 		}
+
+		log.Printf("correctly added %d pubkeys", len(config.InitPubkeys))
 	}
 
 	if config.PrintStats {
@@ -110,32 +113,6 @@ func main() {
 	consumers.Wait()
 }
 
-func initGraph(ctx context.Context, db redb.RedisDB, pubkeys []string) error {
-	if len(pubkeys) == 0 {
-		panic("init pubkeys are empty: impossible to initialize")
-	}
-	log.Println("initialize from empty database...")
-
-	var initNodes = make([]graph.ID, len(pubkeys))
-	var err error
-
-	for i, pk := range pubkeys {
-		initNodes[i], err = db.AddNode(ctx, pk)
-		if err != nil {
-			panic(err)
-		}
-	}
-
-	for _, node := range initNodes {
-		if err := pipe.Promote(db, node); err != nil {
-			panic(err)
-		}
-	}
-
-	log.Printf("correctly added %d init pubkeys", len(pubkeys))
-	return nil
-}
-
 func printStats(
 	ctx context.Context,
 	recorderQueue, engineQueue chan *nostr.Event,
diff --git a/cmd/sync/main.go b/cmd/sync/main.go
index e3572eb..bae47a1 100644
--- a/cmd/sync/main.go
+++ b/cmd/sync/main.go
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/vertex-lab/crawler_v2/pkg/config"
-	"github.com/vertex-lab/crawler_v2/pkg/graph"
 	"github.com/vertex-lab/crawler_v2/pkg/pipe"
 	"github.com/vertex-lab/crawler_v2/pkg/redb"
 	"github.com/vertex-lab/crawler_v2/pkg/store"
@@ -57,30 +56,20 @@ func main() {
 	}
 
 	if nodes != 0 {
-		panic("refuse to run sync when redis is not empty")
+		panic("refuse to sync when redis is not empty")
 	}
 
-	if len(config.InitPubkeys) == 0 {
-		panic("init fetcherQueue are empty: impossible to initialize")
-	}
 	log.Println("initialize from empty database...")
 
-	initNodes := make([]graph.ID, len(config.InitPubkeys))
-	for i, pk := range config.InitPubkeys {
-		initNodes[i], err = db.AddNode(ctx, pk)
-		if err != nil {
-			panic(err)
-		}
-
-		fetcherQueue <- pk // add to queue
+	if err := pipe.InitGraph(ctx, db, config.InitPubkeys); err != nil {
+		panic(err)
 	}
 
-	for _, node := range initNodes {
-		if err := pipe.Promote(db, node); err != nil {
-			panic(err)
-		}
+	for _, pk := range config.InitPubkeys {
+		fetcherQueue <- pk
 	}
-	log.Printf("correctly added %d init fetcherQueue", len(config.InitPubkeys))
+
+	log.Printf("correctly added %d pubkeys", len(config.InitPubkeys))
 
 	if config.PrintStats {
 		go printStats(ctx, builderQueue, fetcherQueue)
diff --git a/pkg/pipe/utils.go b/pkg/pipe/utils.go
index cebfd43..da13677 100644
--- a/pkg/pipe/utils.go
+++ b/pkg/pipe/utils.go
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ import (
 	"syscall"
 
 	"github.com/nbd-wtf/go-nostr"
+	"github.com/vertex-lab/crawler_v2/pkg/graph"
+	"github.com/vertex-lab/crawler_v2/pkg/redb"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -40,6 +42,30 @@ func HandleSignals(cancel context.CancelFunc) {
 	cancel()
 }
 
+// InitGraph by adding and promoting the provided pubkeys.
+func InitGraph(ctx context.Context, db redb.RedisDB, pubkeys []string) error {
+	if len(pubkeys) == 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("InitGraph: init pubkeys are empty")
+	}
+
+	var initNodes = make([]graph.ID, len(pubkeys))
+	var err error
+
+	for i, pk := range pubkeys {
+		initNodes[i], err = db.AddNode(ctx, pk)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("InitGraph: %v", err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	for _, node := range initNodes {
+		if err := Promote(db, node); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("InitGraph: %v", err)
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 // Shutdown iterates over the relays in the pool and closes all connections.
 func shutdown(pool *nostr.SimplePool) {
 	pool.Relays.Range(func(_ string, relay *nostr.Relay) bool {