diff --git a/scripts/lib/zulip_tools.py b/scripts/lib/zulip_tools.py
index 4f4c1aa90a..f4669cc110 100755
--- a/scripts/lib/zulip_tools.py
+++ b/scripts/lib/zulip_tools.py
@@ -653,6 +653,23 @@ def deport(netloc: str) -> str:
     return "[" + r.hostname + "]" if ":" in r.hostname else r.hostname
 
 
+def start_arg_parser(action: str, add_help: bool = False) -> argparse.ArgumentParser:
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(add_help=add_help)
+    parser.add_argument("--fill-cache", action="store_true", help="Fill the memcached caches")
+    if action == "restart":
+        parser.add_argument(
+            "--less-graceful",
+            action="store_true",
+            help="Restart with more concern for expediency than minimizing availability interruption",
+        )
+        parser.add_argument(
+            "--skip-tornado",
+            action="store_true",
+            help="Do not restart Tornado processes",
+        )
+    return parser
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     cmd = sys.argv[1]
     if cmd == "make_deploy_path":
diff --git a/scripts/restart-server b/scripts/restart-server
index 0ac13f8463..a8bb94780a 100755
--- a/scripts/restart-server
+++ b/scripts/restart-server
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
-import argparse
 import logging
 import os
 import pwd
@@ -20,6 +19,7 @@ from scripts.lib.zulip_tools import (
     has_process_fts_updates,
     list_supervisor_processes,
     overwrite_symlink,
+    start_arg_parser,
 )
 
 action = "restart"
@@ -30,19 +30,7 @@ verbing = action.title() + "ing"
 logging.Formatter.converter = time.gmtime
 logging.basicConfig(format=f"%(asctime)s {action}-server: %(message)s", level=logging.INFO)
 
-parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
-parser.add_argument("--fill-cache", action="store_true", help="Fill the memcached caches")
-if action == "restart":
-    parser.add_argument(
-        "--less-graceful",
-        action="store_true",
-        help="Restart with more concern for expediency than minimizing availability interruption",
-    )
-    parser.add_argument(
-        "--skip-tornado",
-        action="store_true",
-        help="Do not restart Tornado processes",
-    )
+parser = start_arg_parser(action=action, add_help=True)
 args = parser.parse_args()
 
 deploy_path = os.path.realpath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), ".."))