diff --git a/actions/peoplesearch.php b/actions/peoplesearch.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..59c756d734
--- /dev/null
+++ b/actions/peoplesearch.php
@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+<?php
+/*
+ * Laconica - a distributed open-source microblogging tool
+ * Copyright (C) 2008, Controlez-Vous, Inc.
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+ * along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+if (!defined('LACONICA')) { exit(1); }
+
+define(PROFILES_PER_PAGE, 10);
+
+# XXX common parent for people and content search?
+
+class PeoplesearchAction extends Action {
+	
+	function handle($args) {
+		parent::handle($args);
+		$this->show_form();
+	}
+
+	function show_top($error=NULL) {
+	}
+	
+	function show_form($error=NULL) {
+		$q = $this->trimmed('q');
+		$page = $this->trimmed('page', 1);
+		
+		common_show_header(_t('Find people'), NULL, $error, array($this, 'show_top'));
+		common_element_start('form', array('method' => 'post',
+										   'id' => 'login',
+										   'action' => common_local_url('peoplesearch')));
+		common_element_start('p');
+		common_element('input', array('name' => 'q',
+									  'id' => 'q'
+									  'type' => 'text',
+									  'class' => 'input_text',
+									  'value' => ($q) ? $q : ''));
+		common_text(' ');
+		common_element('input', array('type' => 'submit',
+									  'id' => 'search',
+									  'name' => 'search',
+									  'class' => 'submit',
+									  'value' => _t('Search')));
+					   
+		common_element_end('p');
+		if ($q) {
+			common_element('hr');
+			$this->show_results($q, $page);
+		}
+		common_element_end('form');
+		common_show_footer();
+	}
+	
+	function show_results($q, $page) {
+		
+		$profile = new Profile();
+
+		# lcase it for comparison
+		$q = strtolower($q);
+		$profile->whereAdd('MATCH(nickname, fullname, location, bio, homepage) ' . 
+						   'against (\''.addslashes($q).'\')');
+
+		# Ask for an extra to see if there's more.
+		
+		$profile->limit((($page-1)*PROFILES_PER_PAGE), PROFILES_PER_PAGE + 1);
+
+		$cnt = $profile->find();
+
+		if ($cnt > 0) {
+			$terms = preg_split('/[\s,]+/', $q);
+			common_element_start('ul', array('id' => 'profiles'));
+			for ($i = 0; $i < min($cnt, PROFILES_PER_PAGE); $i++) {
+				if ($profile->fetch()) {
+					$this->show_profile($profile, $terms);
+				} else {
+					// shouldn't happen!
+					break;
+				}
+			}
+			common_element_end('ul');
+		}
+		
+		common_pagination($page > 1, $cnt > PROFILES_PER_PAGE,
+						  $page, 'peoplesearch', array('q' => $q));
+	}
+	
+	function show_profile($profile, $terms) {
+		common_start_element('li', array('class' => 'profile_single',
+										 'id' => 'profile-' . $profile->id));
+		$avatar = $profile->getAvatar(AVATAR_STREAM_SIZE);
+		common_element_start('a', array('href' => $profile->profileurl));
+		common_element('img', array('src' => ($avatar) ? common_avatar_display_url($avatar) : common_default_avatar(AVATAR_STREAM_SIZE),
+									'class' => 'avatar stream',
+									'width' => AVATAR_STREAM_SIZE,
+									'height' => AVATAR_STREAM_SIZE,
+									'alt' =>
+									($profile->fullname) ? $profile->fullname :
+									$profile->nickname));
+		common_element_end('a');
+		common_element_start('a', array('href' => $profile->profileurl,
+										'class' => 'nickname'));
+		common_raw($this->highlight($profile->nickname, $terms));
+		common_element_end('a');
+		if ($profile->fullname) {
+			common_element_start('p', 'fullname');
+			common_raw($this->highlight($profile->fullname, $terms));
+			common_element_end('p');
+		}
+		if ($profile->location) {
+			common_element_start('p', 'location');
+			common_raw($this->highlight($profile->location, $terms));
+			common_element_end('p');
+		}
+		if ($profile->location) {
+			common_element_start('p', 'bio');
+			common_raw($this->highlight($profile->bio, $terms));
+			common_element_end('p');
+		}
+		common_element_end('li');
+	}
+
+	function highlight($text, $terms) {
+		$pattern = '/('.implode('|',array_map('htmlspecialchars', $terms)).')/';
+		$result = preg_replace($pattern, '<strong>\\1</strong>', $text);
+		return $result;
+	}
+}