diff --git a/scripts/lib/install b/scripts/lib/install
index 684200f17a..2e019a10a9 100755
--- a/scripts/lib/install
+++ b/scripts/lib/install
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ if [ "$has_nginx" = 0 ]; then
 fi
 
 if [ "$has_appserver" = 0 ]; then
-    /root/zulip/scripts/setup/generate_secrets.py
+    /root/zulip/scripts/setup/generate_secrets.py --production
     cp -a /root/zulip/zproject/prod_settings_template.py /etc/zulip/settings.py
     ln -nsf /etc/zulip/settings.py /root/zulip/zproject/prod_settings.py
 fi
diff --git a/scripts/setup/generate_secrets.py b/scripts/setup/generate_secrets.py
index 7d0b70777f..5cf448308b 100755
--- a/scripts/setup/generate_secrets.py
+++ b/scripts/setup/generate_secrets.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = 'zproject.settings'
 from django.utils.crypto import get_random_string
 from six import text_type
 import six
-
+import argparse
 from zerver.lib.str_utils import force_str
 from zerver.lib.utils import generate_random_token
 
@@ -96,10 +96,10 @@ def generate_secrets(development=False):
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
 
-    development = False
-    extra_args = sys.argv[1:]
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
+    group = parser.add_mutually_exclusive_group(required=True)
+    group.add_argument('--development', action='store_true', dest='development', help='For setting up the developer env for zulip')
+    group.add_argument('--production', action='store_false', dest='development', help='For setting up the production env for zulip')
+    results = parser.parse_args()
 
-    if len(extra_args) and extra_args[0] in ('-d', '--development'):
-        development = True
-
-    generate_secrets(development)
+    generate_secrets(results.development)
diff --git a/tools/provision.py b/tools/provision.py
index e05a403859..28b891e866 100755
--- a/tools/provision.py
+++ b/tools/provision.py
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ def main():
         run(["tools/setup/install-phantomjs"])
     run(["tools/setup/download-zxcvbn"])
     run(["tools/setup/emoji_dump/build_emoji"])
-    run(["scripts/setup/generate_secrets.py", "-d"])
+    run(["scripts/setup/generate_secrets.py", "--development"])
     if TRAVIS and not PRODUCTION_TRAVIS:
         run(["sudo", "service", "rabbitmq-server", "restart"])
         run(["sudo", "service", "redis-server", "restart"])