diff --git a/man/man1/notmuch-search.1 b/man/man1/notmuch-search.1
index 0aff3487..5c771fa6 100644
--- a/man/man1/notmuch-search.1
+++ b/man/man1/notmuch-search.1
@@ -30,6 +30,15 @@ include
 Presents the results in either JSON, S-Expressions or plain-text (default).
 .RE
 
+.RS 4
+.TP 4
+.BR \-\-format-version=N
+
+Use the specified structured output format version.  This is intended
+for programs that invoke \fBnotmuch\fR(1) internally.  If omitted, the
+latest supported version will be used.
+.RE
+
 .RS 4
 .TP 4
 .B \-\-output=(summary|threads|messages|files|tags)
@@ -126,6 +135,17 @@ In this case all matching threads are returned but the "match count"
 is the number of matching non-excluded messages in the thread.
 .RE
 
+.SH EXIT STATUS
+
+This command supports the following special exit status codes
+
+.TP
+.B 20
+The requested format version is too old.
+.TP
+.B 21
+The requested format version is too new.
+
 .SH SEE ALSO
 
 \fBnotmuch\fR(1), \fBnotmuch-config\fR(1), \fBnotmuch-count\fR(1),
diff --git a/notmuch-search.c b/notmuch-search.c
index 62186228..77049154 100644
--- a/notmuch-search.c
+++ b/notmuch-search.c
@@ -318,6 +318,7 @@ notmuch_search_command (void *ctx, int argc, char *argv[])
 				  { "sexp", NOTMUCH_FORMAT_SEXP },
 				  { "text", NOTMUCH_FORMAT_TEXT },
 				  { 0, 0 } } },
+	{ NOTMUCH_OPT_INT, &notmuch_format_version, "format-version", 0, 0 },
 	{ NOTMUCH_OPT_KEYWORD, &output, "output", 'o',
 	  (notmuch_keyword_t []){ { "summary", OUTPUT_SUMMARY },
 				  { "threads", OUTPUT_THREADS },
@@ -356,6 +357,8 @@ notmuch_search_command (void *ctx, int argc, char *argv[])
 	INTERNAL_ERROR("no output format selected");
     }
 
+    notmuch_exit_if_unsupported_format ();
+
     config = notmuch_config_open (ctx, NULL, NULL);
     if (config == NULL)
 	return 1;