diff --git a/docs/cli.rst b/docs/cli.rst
index f9ef84c..8e47ad6 100644
--- a/docs/cli.rst
+++ b/docs/cli.rst
@@ -310,6 +310,19 @@ If you omit the other table and other column references ``sqlite-utils`` will at
 
 See :ref:`python_api_add_foreign_key` in the Python API documentation for further details, including how the automatic table guessing mechanism works.
 
+.. _cli_defaults_not_null:
+
+Setting defaults and not null constraints
+=========================================
+
+You can use the ``--not-null`` and ``--default`` options (to both ``insert`` and ``upsert``) to specify columns that should be ``NOT NULL`` or to set database defaults for one or more specific columns::
+
+    $ sqlite-utils insert dogs.db dogs_with_scores dogs-with-scores.json \
+        --not-null=age \
+        --not-null=name \
+        --default age 2 \
+        --default score 5
+
 .. _cli_create_index:
 
 Creating indexes
diff --git a/sqlite_utils/cli.py b/sqlite_utils/cli.py
index 0424eda..0df540a 100644
--- a/sqlite_utils/cli.py
+++ b/sqlite_utils/cli.py
@@ -299,6 +299,17 @@ def insert_upsert_options(fn):
                 is_flag=True,
                 help="Alter existing table to add any missing columns",
             ),
+            click.option(
+                "--not-null",
+                multiple=True,
+                help="Columns that should be created as NOT NULL",
+            ),
+            click.option(
+                "--default",
+                multiple=True,
+                type=(str, str),
+                help="Default value that should be set for a column",
+            ),
         )
     ):
         fn = decorator(fn)
@@ -306,7 +317,18 @@ def insert_upsert_options(fn):
 
 
 def insert_upsert_implementation(
-    path, table, json_file, pk, nl, csv, batch_size, alter, upsert, ignore=False
+    path,
+    table,
+    json_file,
+    pk,
+    nl,
+    csv,
+    batch_size,
+    alter,
+    upsert,
+    ignore=False,
+    not_null=None,
+    default=None,
 ):
     db = sqlite_utils.Database(path)
     if nl and csv:
@@ -328,6 +350,10 @@ def insert_upsert_implementation(
     else:
         method = db[table].insert_all
         extra_kwargs = {"ignore": ignore}
+    if not_null:
+        extra_kwargs["not_null"] = set(not_null)
+    if default:
+        extra_kwargs["defaults"] = dict(default)
     method(docs, pk=pk, batch_size=batch_size, alter=alter, **extra_kwargs)
 
 
@@ -336,7 +362,9 @@ def insert_upsert_implementation(
 @click.option(
     "--ignore", is_flag=True, default=False, help="Ignore records if pk already exists"
 )
-def insert(path, table, json_file, pk, nl, csv, batch_size, alter, ignore):
+def insert(
+    path, table, json_file, pk, nl, csv, batch_size, alter, ignore, not_null, default
+):
     """
     Insert records from JSON file into a table, creating the table if it
     does not already exist.
@@ -354,19 +382,31 @@ def insert(path, table, json_file, pk, nl, csv, batch_size, alter, ignore):
         alter=alter,
         upsert=False,
         ignore=ignore,
+        not_null=not_null,
+        default=default,
     )
 
 
 @cli.command()
 @insert_upsert_options
-def upsert(path, table, json_file, pk, nl, csv, batch_size, alter):
+def upsert(path, table, json_file, pk, nl, csv, batch_size, alter, not_null, default):
     """
     Upsert records based on their primary key. Works like 'insert' but if
     an incoming record has a primary key that matches an existing record
     the existing record will be replaced.
     """
     insert_upsert_implementation(
-        path, table, json_file, pk, nl, csv, batch_size, alter=alter, upsert=True
+        path,
+        table,
+        json_file,
+        pk,
+        nl,
+        csv,
+        batch_size,
+        alter=alter,
+        upsert=True,
+        not_null=not_null,
+        default=default,
     )
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
index 24bbc38..0316a51 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -417,6 +417,30 @@ def test_insert_multiple_with_primary_key(db_path, tmpdir):
     assert ["id"] == db["dogs"].pks
 
 
+def test_insert_not_null_default(db_path, tmpdir):
+    json_path = str(tmpdir / "dogs.json")
+    dogs = [
+        {"id": i, "name": "Cleo {}".format(i), "age": i + 3, "score": 10}
+        for i in range(1, 21)
+    ]
+    open(json_path, "w").write(json.dumps(dogs))
+    result = CliRunner().invoke(
+        cli.cli,
+        ["insert", db_path, "dogs", json_path, "--pk", "id"]
+        + ["--not-null", "name", "--not-null", "age"]
+        + ["--default", "score", "5", "--default", "age", "1"],
+    )
+    assert 0 == result.exit_code
+    db = Database(db_path)
+    assert (
+        "CREATE TABLE [dogs] (\n"
+        "   [id] INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,\n"
+        "   [name] TEXT NOT NULL,\n"
+        "   [age] INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT '1',\n"
+        "   [score] INTEGER DEFAULT '5'\n)"
+    ) == db["dogs"].schema
+
+
 def test_insert_newline_delimited(db_path):
     result = CliRunner().invoke(
         cli.cli,