diff --git a/redash/cli/__init__.py b/redash/cli/__init__.py
index c20031ff97..6f0528695c 100644
--- a/redash/cli/__init__.py
+++ b/redash/cli/__init__.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import click
 import simplejson
 from flask import current_app
-from flask.cli import FlaskGroup, run_command
+from flask.cli import FlaskGroup, run_command, with_appcontext
 from rq import Connection
 
 from redash import __version__, create_app, settings, rq_redis_connection
@@ -75,23 +75,13 @@ def send_test_mail(email=None):
     )
 
 
-@manager.command()
-def ipython():
-    """Starts IPython shell instead of the default Python shell."""
+@manager.command("shell")
+@with_appcontext
+def shell():
     import sys
-    import IPython
+    from ptpython import repl
     from flask.globals import _app_ctx_stack
 
     app = _app_ctx_stack.top.app
 
-    banner = "Python %s on %s\nIPython: %s\nRedash version: %s\n" % (
-        sys.version,
-        sys.platform,
-        IPython.__version__,
-        __version__,
-    )
-
-    ctx = {}
-    ctx.update(app.make_shell_context())
-
-    IPython.embed(banner1=banner, user_ns=ctx)
+    repl.embed(globals=app.make_shell_context())
diff --git a/requirements_dev.txt b/requirements_dev.txt
index a3152fae53..c02036c50d 100644
--- a/requirements_dev.txt
+++ b/requirements_dev.txt
@@ -11,3 +11,4 @@ PyAthena>=1.5.0
 ptvsd==4.3.2
 freezegun==0.3.12
 watchdog==0.9.0
+ptpython==3.0.17