diff --git a/src/calibre/db/cli/cmd_search.py b/src/calibre/db/cli/cmd_search.py
index 2f6f22ae56..f07087352e 100644
--- a/src/calibre/db/cli/cmd_search.py
+++ b/src/calibre/db/cli/cmd_search.py
@@ -4,19 +4,50 @@
 
 from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function, unicode_literals
 
-readonly = False
+from calibre import prints
+
+readonly = True
 version = 0  # change this if you change signature of implementation()
 
 
-def implementation(db, notify_changes, *args):
-    is_remote = notify_changes is not None
-    is_remote
+def implementation(db, notify_changes, query):
+    return db.search(query)
 
 
 def option_parser(get_parser, args):
-    pass
+    parser = get_parser(
+        _(
+            '''\
+%prog search [options] search expression
+
+Search the library for the specified search term, returning a comma separated
+list of book ids matching the search expression. The output format is useful
+to feed into other commands that accept a list of ids as input.
+
+The search expression can be anything from calibre's powerful search query
+language, for example: {0}
+'''
+        ).format('author:asimov title:robot')
+    )
+    parser.add_option(
+        '-l',
+        '--limit',
+        default=-1,
+        type=int,
+        help=_('The maximum number of results to return. Default is all results.')
+    )
+    return parser
 
 
 def main(opts, args, dbctx):
-    raise NotImplementedError('TODO: implement this')
+    if len(args) < 1:
+        raise SystemExit(_('Error: You must specify the search expression'))
+    q = ' '.join(args)
+    ids = dbctx.run('search', q)
+    if not ids:
+        raise SystemExit(_('No books matching the search expression:') + ' ' + q)
+    ids = sorted(ids)
+    if opts.limit > -1:
+        ids = ids[:opts.limit]
+    prints(','.join(map(str, ids)), end='')
     return 0
diff --git a/src/calibre/db/cli/main.py b/src/calibre/db/cli/main.py
index 40b368cdc4..6d2af6b403 100644
--- a/src/calibre/db/cli/main.py
+++ b/src/calibre/db/cli/main.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ COMMANDS = (
     'set_metadata', 'export', 'catalog', 'saved_searches', 'add_custom_column',
     'custom_columns', 'remove_custom_column', 'set_custom', 'restore_database',
     'check_library', 'list_categories', 'backup_metadata', 'clone', 'embed_metadata',
-    # 'search'
+    'search'
 )