diff --git a/src/calibre/db/cli/cmd_add.py b/src/calibre/db/cli/cmd_add.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bc2253e4ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/calibre/db/cli/cmd_add.py
@@ -0,0 +1,375 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python2
+# vim:fileencoding=utf-8
+# License: GPLv3 Copyright: 2017, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>
+
+from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function, unicode_literals
+
+import os
+import sys
+from io import BytesIO
+from optparse import OptionGroup, OptionValueError
+
+from calibre import prints
+from calibre.db.adding import compile_rule, recursive_import, import_book_directory, import_book_directory_multiple
+from calibre.ebooks.metadata import MetaInformation, string_to_authors
+from calibre.ebooks.metadata.book.serialize import read_cover
+from calibre.ebooks.metadata.meta import get_metadata
+from calibre.srv.changes import books_added
+from calibre.utils.localization import canonicalize_lang
+
+readonly = False
+
+
+def to_stream(data):
+    ans = BytesIO(data[1])
+    ans.name = data[0]
+    return ans
+
+
+def empty(db, notify_changes, is_remote, args):
+    mi = args[0]
+    ids, duplicates = db.add_books([(mi, {})])
+    if is_remote:
+        notify_changes(books_added(ids))
+    db.dump_metadata()
+    return ids, bool(duplicates)
+
+
+def book(db, notify_changes, is_remote, args):
+    data, fmt, mi, add_duplicates = args
+    if is_remote:
+        data = to_stream(data)
+    ids, duplicates = db.add_books(
+        [(mi, {fmt: data})], add_duplicates=add_duplicates)
+    if is_remote:
+        notify_changes(books_added(ids))
+    db.dump_metadata()
+    return ids, bool(duplicates)
+
+
+def add_books(db, notify_changes, is_remote, args):
+    books, kwargs = args
+    if is_remote:
+        books = [(mi, {k:to_stream(v) for k, v in fmt_map.iteritems()}) for mi, fmt_map in books]
+    ids, duplicates = db.add_books(books, **kwargs)
+    if is_remote:
+        notify_changes(books_added(ids))
+    db.dump_metadata()
+    return ids, [(mi.title, [getattr(x, 'name', '<stream>') for x in format_map.itervalues()]) for mi, format_map in duplicates]
+
+
+def implementation(db, notify_changes, action, *args):
+    is_remote = notify_changes is not None
+    func = globals()[action]
+    return func(db, notify_changes, is_remote, args)
+
+
+class DBProxy(object):
+    # Allows dbctx to be used with the directory adding API that expects a
+    # normal db object. Fortunately that API only calls one method,
+    # add_books()
+
+    def __init__(self, dbctx):
+        self.new_api = self
+        self.dbctx = dbctx
+
+    def add_books(self, books, **kwargs):
+        books = [(read_cover(mi), {k:self.dbctx.path(v) for k, v in fmt_map.iteritems()}) for mi, fmt_map in books]
+        return self.dbctx.run('add', 'add_books', books, kwargs)
+
+
+def do_add_empty(
+    dbctx, title, authors, isbn, tags, series, series_index, cover, identifiers,
+    languages
+):
+    mi = MetaInformation(None)
+    if title is not None:
+        mi.title = title
+    if authors:
+        mi.authors = authors
+    if identifiers:
+        mi.set_identifiers(identifiers)
+    if isbn:
+        mi.isbn = isbn
+    if tags:
+        mi.tags = tags
+    if series:
+        mi.series, mi.series_index = series, series_index
+    if cover:
+        mi.cover = cover
+    if languages:
+        mi.languages = languages
+    ids, duplicates = dbctx.run('add', 'empty', read_cover(mi))
+    prints(_('Added book ids: %s') % ','.join(map(str, ids)))
+
+
+def do_add(
+    dbctx, paths, one_book_per_directory, recurse, add_duplicates, otitle, oauthors,
+    oisbn, otags, oseries, oseries_index, ocover, oidentifiers, olanguages,
+    compiled_rules
+):
+    orig = sys.stdout
+    try:
+        files, dirs = [], []
+        for path in paths:
+            path = os.path.abspath(path)
+            if os.path.isdir(path):
+                dirs.append(path)
+            else:
+                if os.path.exists(path):
+                    files.append(path)
+                else:
+                    prints(path, 'not found')
+
+        file_duplicates, added_ids = [], set()
+        for book in files:
+            fmt = os.path.splitext(book)[1]
+            fmt = fmt[1:] if fmt else None
+            if not fmt:
+                continue
+            with lopen(book, 'rb') as stream:
+                mi = get_metadata(stream, stream_type=fmt, use_libprs_metadata=True)
+            if not mi.title:
+                mi.title = os.path.splitext(os.path.basename(book))[0]
+            if not mi.authors:
+                mi.authors = [_('Unknown')]
+            if oidentifiers:
+                ids = mi.get_identifiers()
+                ids.update(oidentifiers)
+                mi.set_identifiers(ids)
+            for x in ('title', 'authors', 'isbn', 'tags', 'series', 'languages'):
+                val = locals()['o' + x]
+                if val:
+                    setattr(mi, x, val)
+            if oseries:
+                mi.series_index = oseries_index
+            if ocover:
+                mi.cover = ocover
+                mi.cover_data = (None, None)
+
+            ids, dups = dbctx.run(
+                'add', 'book', dbctx.path(book), fmt, read_cover(mi), add_duplicates
+            )
+            added_ids |= set(ids)
+            if dups:
+                file_duplicates.append((mi.title, book))
+
+        dir_dups = []
+        dbproxy = DBProxy(dbctx)
+
+        for dpath in dirs:
+            if recurse:
+                dups = recursive_import(
+                    dbproxy,
+                    dpath,
+                    single_book_per_directory=one_book_per_directory,
+                    added_ids=added_ids,
+                    compiled_rules=compiled_rules,
+                    add_duplicates=add_duplicates
+                ) or []
+            else:
+                func = import_book_directory if one_book_per_directory else import_book_directory_multiple
+                dups = func(
+                    dbproxy,
+                    dpath,
+                    added_ids=added_ids,
+                    compiled_rules=compiled_rules,
+                    add_duplicates=add_duplicates
+                ) or []
+            dir_dups.extend(dups)
+
+        sys.stdout = sys.__stdout__
+
+        if dir_dups or file_duplicates:
+            prints(
+                _(
+                    'The following books were not added as '
+                    'they already exist in the database '
+                    '(see --duplicates option):'
+                ),
+                file=sys.stderr
+            )
+            for title, formats in dir_dups:
+                prints(' ', title, file=sys.stderr)
+                for path in formats:
+                    prints('   ', path)
+            if file_duplicates:
+                for title, path in file_duplicates:
+                    prints(' ', title, file=sys.stderr)
+                    prints('   ', path)
+
+        if added_ids:
+            prints(_('Added book ids: %s') % (', '.join(map(type(u''), added_ids))))
+    finally:
+        sys.stdout = orig
+
+
+def option_parser(get_parser):
+    parser = get_parser(
+        _(
+            '''\
+%prog add [options] file1 file2 file3 ...
+
+Add the specified files as books to the database. You can also specify directories, see
+the directory related options below.
+'''
+        )
+    )
+    parser.add_option(
+        '-d',
+        '--duplicates',
+        action='store_true',
+        default=False,
+        help=_(
+            'Add books to database even if they already exist. Comparison is done based on book titles.'
+        )
+    )
+    parser.add_option(
+        '-e',
+        '--empty',
+        action='store_true',
+        default=False,
+        help=_('Add an empty book (a book with no formats)')
+    )
+    parser.add_option(
+        '-t', '--title', default=None, help=_('Set the title of the added book(s)')
+    )
+    parser.add_option(
+        '-a',
+        '--authors',
+        default=None,
+        help=_('Set the authors of the added book(s)')
+    )
+    parser.add_option(
+        '-i', '--isbn', default=None, help=_('Set the ISBN of the added book(s)')
+    )
+    parser.add_option(
+        '-I',
+        '--identifier',
+        default=[],
+        action='append',
+        help=_('Set the identifiers for this book, for e.g. -I asin:XXX -I isbn:YYY')
+    )
+    parser.add_option(
+        '-T', '--tags', default=None, help=_('Set the tags of the added book(s)')
+    )
+    parser.add_option(
+        '-s',
+        '--series',
+        default=None,
+        help=_('Set the series of the added book(s)')
+    )
+    parser.add_option(
+        '-S',
+        '--series-index',
+        default=1.0,
+        type=float,
+        help=_('Set the series number of the added book(s)')
+    )
+    parser.add_option(
+        '-c',
+        '--cover',
+        default=None,
+        help=_('Path to the cover to use for the added book')
+    )
+    parser.add_option(
+        '-l',
+        '--languages',
+        default=None,
+        help=_(
+            'A comma separated list of languages (best to use ISO639 language codes, though some language names may also be recognized)'
+        )
+    )
+
+    g = OptionGroup(
+        parser,
+        _('ADDING FROM DIRECTORIES'),
+        _(
+            'Options to control the adding of books from directories. By default only files that have extensions of known e-book file types are added.'
+        )
+    )
+
+    def filter_pat(option, opt, value, parser, action):
+        try:
+            getattr(parser.values, option.dest).append(
+                compile_rule({
+                    'match_type': 'glob',
+                    'query': value,
+                    'action': action
+                })
+            )
+        except Exception:
+            raise OptionValueError('%r is not a valid filename pattern' % value)
+
+    g.add_option(
+        '-1',
+        '--one-book-per-directory',
+        action='store_true',
+        default=False,
+        help=_(
+            'Assume that each directory has only a single logical book and that all files in it are different e-book formats of that book'
+        )
+    )
+    g.add_option(
+        '-r',
+        '--recurse',
+        action='store_true',
+        default=False,
+        help=_('Process directories recursively')
+    )
+
+    def fadd(opt, action, help):
+        g.add_option(
+            opt,
+            action='callback',
+            type='string',
+            nargs=1,
+            default=[],
+            callback=filter_pat,
+            dest='filters',
+            callback_args=(action, ),
+            metavar=_('GLOB PATTERN'),
+            help=help
+        )
+
+    fadd(
+        '--ignore', 'ignore',
+        _(
+            'A filename (glob) pattern, files matching this pattern will be ignored when scanning directories for files.'
+            ' Can be specified multiple times for multiple patterns. For e.g.: *.pdf will ignore all pdf files'
+        )
+    )
+    fadd(
+        '--add', 'add',
+        _(
+            'A filename (glob) pattern, files matching this pattern will be added when scanning directories for files,'
+            ' even if they are not of a known e-book file type. Can be specified multiple times for multiple patterns.'
+        )
+    )
+    parser.add_option_group(g)
+
+    return parser
+
+
+def main(opts, args, dbctx):
+    aut = string_to_authors(opts.authors) if opts.authors else []
+    tags = [x.strip() for x in opts.tags.split(',')] if opts.tags else []
+    lcodes = [canonicalize_lang(x) for x in (opts.languages or '').split(',')]
+    lcodes = [x for x in lcodes if x]
+    identifiers = (x.partition(':')[::2] for x in opts.identifier)
+    identifiers = dict((k.strip(), v.strip()) for k, v in identifiers
+                       if k.strip() and v.strip())
+    if opts.empty:
+        do_add_empty(
+            dbctx, opts.title, aut, opts.isbn, tags, opts.series, opts.series_index,
+            opts.cover, identifiers, lcodes
+        )
+        return 0
+    if len(args) < 1:
+        raise SystemExit(_('You must specify at least one file to add'))
+    do_add(
+        dbctx, args, opts.one_book_per_directory, opts.recurse, opts.duplicates,
+        opts.title, aut, opts.isbn, tags, opts.series, opts.series_index, opts.cover,
+        identifiers, lcodes, opts.filters
+    )
+    return 0
diff --git a/src/calibre/srv/changes.py b/src/calibre/srv/changes.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6dbc48b921
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/calibre/srv/changes.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python2
+# vim:fileencoding=utf-8
+# License: GPLv3 Copyright: 2017, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>
+
+from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function, unicode_literals
+
+
+def books_added(book_ids):
+    pass
+
+
+def formats_added(formats_map):
+    pass