diff --git a/packages/cli/src/cli.ts b/packages/cli/src/cli.ts
index b10c7349d..aa1efc828 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/cli.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/cli.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import projectsCommand from './projects/command';
 import checkoutCommand from './checkout/command';
 import mergeCommand from './merge/command';
 import workflowVersionCommand from './version/command';
+import fetchCommand from './fetch/command';
 
 const y = yargs(hideBin(process.argv));
 
@@ -37,6 +38,7 @@ export const cmd = y
   .command(projectsCommand)
   .command(checkoutCommand)
   .command(mergeCommand)
+  .command(fetchCommand as any)
   .command(workflowVersionCommand)
   .command({
     command: 'version',
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands.ts
index 795d8e9e3..96f420eb0 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/commands.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/commands.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import projects from './projects/handler';
 import workflowVersion from './version/handler';
 import checkout from './checkout/handler';
 import merge from './merge/handler';
+import fetchHandler from './fetch/handler';
 import { clean, install, pwd, list } from './repo/handler';
 
 import createLogger, { CLI, Logger } from './util/logger';
@@ -34,6 +35,7 @@ export type CommandList =
   | 'execute'
   | 'metadata'
   | 'pull'
+  | 'fetch'
   | 'projects'
   | 'checkout'
   | 'merge'
@@ -55,6 +57,7 @@ const handlers = {
   docs,
   metadata,
   pull,
+  fetch: fetchHandler,
   projects,
   checkout,
   merge,
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/fetch/command.ts b/packages/cli/src/fetch/command.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3113a7123
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/src/fetch/command.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+import yargs from 'yargs';
+import { build, ensure, override } from '../util/command-builders';
+import { Opts } from '../options';
+import * as o from '../options';
+
+export type FetchOptions = Required<
+  Pick<
+    Opts,
+    | 'beta'
+    | 'command'
+    | 'log'
+    | 'logJson'
+    | 'statePath'
+    | 'projectPath'
+    | 'configPath'
+    | 'projectId'
+    | 'confirm'
+    | 'snapshots'
+  >
+>;
+
+const options = [
+  o.apikey,
+  o.beta,
+  o.beta,
+  o.configPath,
+  o.endpoint,
+  o.env,
+  o.log,
+  override(o.path, {
+    description: 'path to output the project to',
+  }),
+  o.logJson,
+  o.projectPath,
+  o.snapshots,
+  o.statePath,
+  o.path,
+];
+
+const fetchCommand: yargs.CommandModule<FetchOptions> = {
+  command: 'fetch [projectId]',
+  describe: `Fetch a project's state and spec from a Lightning Instance to the local state file without expanding to the filesystem.`,
+  builder: (yargs: yargs.Argv<FetchOptions>) =>
+    build(options, yargs)
+      .positional('projectId', {
+        describe:
+          'The id of the project that should be fetched, should be a UUID',
+        demandOption: true,
+      })
+      .example(
+        'fetch 57862287-23e6-4650-8d79-e1dd88b24b1c',
+        'Fetch an updated copy of a the above spec and state from a Lightning Instance'
+      ),
+  handler: ensure('fetch', options),
+};
+
+export default fetchCommand;
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/fetch/handler.ts b/packages/cli/src/fetch/handler.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3e2d8d7ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/src/fetch/handler.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+import { DeployConfig, getProject } from '@openfn/deploy';
+import Project from '@openfn/project';
+import fs from 'node:fs/promises';
+import path from 'path';
+import { Opts } from '../options';
+import type { Logger } from '../util/logger';
+
+type Config = {
+  endpoint: string;
+  apiKey: string | null;
+
+  requireConfirmation?: boolean;
+  dryRun?: boolean;
+};
+
+export type FetchOptions = Required<
+  Pick<
+    Opts,
+    | 'apiKey'
+    | 'beta'
+    | 'command'
+    | 'confirm'
+    | 'endpoint'
+    | 'env'
+    | 'log'
+    | 'logJson'
+    | 'path'
+    | 'projectId'
+  >
+>;
+
+export default async function fetchHandler(
+  options: FetchOptions,
+  logger: Logger
+) {
+  const { OPENFN_API_KEY, OPENFN_ENDPOINT } = process.env;
+
+  const config: Partial<Config> = {
+    apiKey: options.apiKey,
+    endpoint: options.endpoint,
+  };
+
+  if (!options.apiKey && OPENFN_API_KEY) {
+    logger.info('Using OPENFN_API_KEY environment variable');
+    config.apiKey = OPENFN_API_KEY;
+  }
+
+  if (!options.endpoint && OPENFN_ENDPOINT) {
+    logger.info('Using OPENFN_ENDPOINT environment variable');
+    config.endpoint = OPENFN_ENDPOINT;
+  }
+
+  // download the state.json from lightning
+  const { data } = await getProject(config as DeployConfig, options.projectId);
+  const name = options.env || 'project';
+
+  const project = Project.from('state', data, {
+    endpoint: config.endpoint,
+    env: name,
+    fetched_at: new Date().toISOString(),
+  });
+
+  const outputRoot = path.resolve(options.path || '.');
+
+  const projectFileName = project.getIdentifier();
+
+  await fs.mkdir(`${outputRoot}/.projects`, { recursive: true });
+  let stateOutputPath = `${outputRoot}/.projects/${projectFileName}`;
+
+  const state = project?.serialize('state');
+  if (project.repo?.formats.project === 'yaml') {
+    await fs.writeFile(`${stateOutputPath}.yaml`, state);
+  } else {
+    await fs.writeFile(
+      `${stateOutputPath}.json`,
+      JSON.stringify(state, null, 2)
+    );
+  }
+  logger.success(`Fetched project file to ${stateOutputPath}`);
+}