diff --git a/ui/fixtures/cmd.search.json b/ui/fixtures/cmd.search.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..13c08e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ui/fixtures/cmd.search.json
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+[
+{
+	"title": "gen ident",
+	"cmd": [ "genident", "name=A Test User" ],
+	"exit": 0
+},
+{
+	"title": "add tag a",
+	"cmd": [ "modify", "+tag=foo", "+dc:creator=John-Mark Gurney", "newfile.txt" ]
+},
+{
+	"title": "add tag b",
+	"cmd": [ "modify", "+tag=bar", "+dc:creator=John-Mark Gurney", "test.txt" ]
+},
+{
+	"special": "verify store object cnt",
+	"comment": "should have two file and two metadata",
+	"count": 4
+},
+{
+	"title": "search tag foo",
+	"cmd": [ "search", "file", "+tag=foo" ],
+	"stdout_re": "/newfile.txt\n$"
+},
+{
+	"title": "search tag bar",
+	"cmd": [ "search", "file", "+tag=bar" ],
+	"stdout_re": "/test.txt\n$"
+},
+{
+	"title": "search no tag bar",
+	"cmd": [ "search", "file", "-tag=bar" ],
+	"stdout_re": "/newfile.txt\n$"
+}
+]
diff --git a/ui/medashare/cli.py b/ui/medashare/cli.py
index c43e5b3..9193662 100644
--- a/ui/medashare/cli.py
+++ b/ui/medashare/cli.py
@@ -685,6 +685,10 @@ class FileObject(MDBase):
 		'mtime': _makedatetime,
 	}
 
+	@property
+	def fullname(self):
+		return os.path.join(self.dir, self.filename)
+
 	@staticmethod
 	def make_id(fname, hostid=None):
 		'''Take a local file name, and make the id for it.  Note that
@@ -1410,6 +1414,45 @@ def cmd_drop(options, persona, objstr, cache):
 	for i in options.uuids:
 		objstr.drop_uuid(i)
 
+@init_datastructs
+def cmd_search(options, persona, objstr, cache):
+	args = options.args.copy()
+
+	_type = args.pop(0)
+
+	searches = [ (x[0], ) + tuple(x[1:].split('=', 1)) for x in args ]
+	#print(repr(searches), file=_real_stderr)
+
+	def testfun(x, s=searches):
+		try:
+			for i in s:
+				op, key, value = i
+				if op == '+':
+					if value not in x[key]:
+						return False
+				elif op == '-':
+					if value in x[key]:
+						return False
+				else:
+					raise ValueError('unhandled op: %s' % repr(op))
+			else:
+				return True
+
+		except KeyError:
+			return False
+
+	r = [ x for x in objstr if x.type == 'metadata' and testfun(x) ]
+
+	if _type == 'file':
+		r = [ objstr.by_hash(x['hashes'][0]) for x in r ]
+		r = [ [ y for y in x if y['type'] == 'file' ] for x in r ]
+		r = sum(r, [])
+		r = [ x.fullname for x in r ]
+	else:
+		raise ValueError('unhandled type: %s' % repr(_type))
+
+	print('\n'.join(r))
+
 def main():
 	import argparse
 
@@ -1495,6 +1538,12 @@ def main():
 	    help='UUID of object to drop')
 	parser_drop.set_defaults(func=cmd_drop)
 
+	parser_search = subparsers.add_parser('search',
+	    help='find objects', prefix_chars='@')
+	parser_search.add_argument('args', nargs='+',
+	    help='args')
+	parser_search.set_defaults(func=cmd_search)
+
 	options = parser.parse_args()
 
 	fun = options.func