diff --git a/packaging_scripts/repos.py b/packaging_scripts/repos.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f172f46
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packaging_scripts/repos.py
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+"""Module for pacman repository helper functions.
+"""
+
+import logging
+import subprocess
+
+# ========== Constants ==========
+REPO_ADD_CMD = '/usr/bin/repo-add'
+REPO_REMOVE_CMD = '/usr/bin/repo-remove'
+DB_EXT = 'db.tar.xz'
+
+# ========== Logging setup ==========
+syslog = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+# ========== Classes ==========
+class RepoAddError(BaseException):
+    """Exception when the repo-add or repo-remove script fails."""
+
+
+# ========== Functions ==========
+def repo_add(operation, db, *pkgs, opts=None):
+    """Run repo-add.
+
+    Since both the repo-add and repo-remove scripts have the
+    same command-line usage, it is simpler to generalize both
+    operations using a single function.
+
+    :param operation: run repo-add or repo-remove, can be
+        either 'add' or 'remove'
+    :type operation: str
+    :param db: the database file to operate on
+    :type db: str, bytes, or path-like object
+    :param opts: extra options to pass to repo-add
+    :type opts: list
+    :param pkgs: these arguments depend on whether the operation is
+        an add or remove.
+        If operation is 'add', then pkgs is all of the paths of the
+        package files to add to the database. If operation is 'remove',
+        then pkgs is the name of the packages to remove from the database.
+    :type pkgs: any iterable
+    :raises: RepoAddError if repo-add failed
+    """
+
+    if operation == 'add':
+        syslog.info('Adding packages to database')
+        cmd = [REPO_ADD_CMD]
+    else:
+        syslog.info('Removing packages from database')
+        cmd = [REPO_REMOVE_CMD]
+
+    syslog.debug(f"Options: {opts}")
+    syslog.debug(f"Packages: {pkgs}")
+
+    if opts is not None:
+        cmd.extend(opts)
+
+    cmd.append(db)
+    cmd.extend(pkgs)
+    syslog.debug(f"Final repo-add command: {cmd}")
+
+    try:
+        process = subprocess.run(cmd,
+                                 check=True,
+                                 capture_output=True,
+                                 text=True)
+    except RepoAddError:
+        raise RepoAddError(process.stderr)
+    else:
+        syslog.debug(process.stdout)
+        syslog.info('Finished adding packages to database')