diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index bb9c3164..73a85546 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@
 all:
 
 # List all subdirectories here. Each contains its own Makefile.local
-subdirs = compat completion emacs lib man parse-time-string util test
+subdirs := compat completion emacs lib man parse-time-string
+subdirs += performance-test util test
 
 # We make all targets depend on the Makefiles themselves.
 global_deps = Makefile Makefile.config Makefile.local \
diff --git a/performance-test/.gitignore b/performance-test/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..53f26973
--- /dev/null
+++ b/performance-test/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+tmp.*/
diff --git a/performance-test/Makefile b/performance-test/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..de492a7c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/performance-test/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# See Makefile.local for the list of files to be compiled in this
+# directory.
+all:
+	$(MAKE) -C .. all
+
+.DEFAULT:
+	$(MAKE) -C .. $@
diff --git a/performance-test/Makefile.local b/performance-test/Makefile.local
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5d2acbd7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/performance-test/Makefile.local
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+# -*- makefile -*-
+
+dir := performance-test
+
+include $(dir)/version.sh
+
+CORPUS_NAME := notmuch-email-corpus-$(PERFTEST_VERSION).tar.xz
+TXZFILE := ${dir}/download/${CORPUS_NAME}
+SIGFILE := ${TXZFILE}.asc
+TEST_SCRIPT := ${dir}/notmuch-perf-test
+DEFAULT_URL :=  http://notmuchmail.org/releases/${CORPUS_NAME}
+
+perf-test: setup-perf-test all
+	$(TEST_SCRIPT) $(OPTIONS)
+
+.PHONY: download-corpus setup-perf-test
+
+# Note that this intentionally does not depend on download-corpus.
+setup-perf-test: $(TXZFILE)
+	gpg --verify $(SIGFILE)
+
+$(TXZFILE):
+	@printf "\nPlease download ${TXZFILE} using:\n\n"
+	@printf "\t%% make download-corpus\n\n"
+	@echo or see http://notmuchmail.org/corpus for download locations
+	@echo
+	@false
+
+download-corpus:
+	wget -O ${TXZFILE} ${DEFAULT_URL}
+
+CLEAN := $(CLEAN) $(dir)/tmp.*
diff --git a/performance-test/README b/performance-test/README
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..630cf136
--- /dev/null
+++ b/performance-test/README
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+Pre-requisites
+--------------
+
+In addition to having notmuch, you need:
+
+- gpg
+- gnu tar
+- gnu time
+- xz. Some speedup can be gotten by installing "pixz", but this is
+  probably only worthwhile if you are debugging the tests.
+
+Getting set up to run tests:
+----------------------------
+
+First, you need to get the corpus.
+
+It should work to run
+
+   % make download-corpus
+
+In case that fails or is too slow, check
+
+   http://notmuchmail.org/corpus
+
+for a list of mirrors.
+
+Running tests
+-------------
+
+The easiest way to run performance tests is to say "make perf-test", (or
+simply run the notmuch-perf-test script). Either command will run all
+available performance tests.
+
+Alternately, you can run a specific subset of tests by simply invoking
+one of the executable scripts in this directory, (such as ./basic).
+
+Writing tests
+-------------
+
+Have a look at "basic" for an example.
+
+add_email_corpus takes arguments "--small" and "--medium" for when you
+want smaller subsets of the corpus to check.
+
+time_done does the cleanup; comment it out or define "$debug" to leave
+the temporary files around.
+
+Currently there is no option processing (e.g. --debug) in the
+performance tests.
diff --git a/performance-test/basic b/performance-test/basic
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..9d015eec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/performance-test/basic
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+. ./perf-test-lib.sh
+
+add_email_corpus
+
+print_header
+
+time_run 'initial notmuch new' 'notmuch new'
+time_run 'second notmuch new' 'notmuch new'
+time_run 'dump *' 'notmuch dump > tags.out'
+time_run 'restore *' 'notmuch restore < tags.out'
+time_run 'tag * +new_tag' "notmuch tag +new_tag '*'"
+
+time_done
diff --git a/performance-test/download/.gitignore b/performance-test/download/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7b092346
--- /dev/null
+++ b/performance-test/download/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+*.tar.gz
+*.tar.xz
diff --git a/performance-test/download/notmuch-email-corpus-0.2.tar.xz.asc b/performance-test/download/notmuch-email-corpus-0.2.tar.xz.asc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c8b4b3d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/performance-test/download/notmuch-email-corpus-0.2.tar.xz.asc
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
+Version: GnuPG v1.4.12 (GNU/Linux)
+
+iJwEAAECAAYFAlCsvx0ACgkQTiiN/0Um85kZAwP9GgOQ22jK8mr5X4pT/mB8EjSH
+QbndlxxbRrP0ChTqjBQoD3IsTHjNL7W572BfXb/MNo94R/iIQ7yTHCDVNuwBhvKd
+7qgIuW2FUS1uTfJRP5KBNf8JPuin+6wqGe8/+y/iOs+XJSdiYg1ElS49Ntnpg0yl
+btImgEcxTxQ2qfzDS1g=
+=iuZR
+-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
diff --git a/performance-test/notmuch-perf-test b/performance-test/notmuch-perf-test
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..1bea3452
--- /dev/null
+++ b/performance-test/notmuch-perf-test
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# Run tests
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2005 Junio C Hamano
+#
+# Adapted from a Makefile to a shell script by Carl Worth (2010)
+
+if [ ${BASH_VERSINFO[0]} -lt 4 ]; then
+    echo "Error: The notmuch test suite requires a bash version >= 4.0"
+    echo "due to use of associative arrays within the test suite."
+    echo "Please try again with a newer bash (or help us fix the"
+    echo "test suite to be more portable). Thanks."
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+cd $(dirname "$0")
+
+TESTS="
+  basic
+"
+
+for test in $TESTS; do
+    ./$test "$@"
+done
diff --git a/performance-test/perf-test-lib.sh b/performance-test/perf-test-lib.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..80ec1eb0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/performance-test/perf-test-lib.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+. ./version.sh
+
+. ../test/test-lib-common.sh
+
+set -e
+
+if ! test -x ../notmuch
+then
+	echo >&2 'You do not seem to have built notmuch yet.'
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+add_email_corpus ()
+{
+    rm -rf ${MAIL_DIR}
+
+    case "$1" in
+	--small)
+	    arg="mail/enron/bailey-s"
+	    ;;
+	--medium)
+	    arg="mail/notmuch-archive"
+	    ;;
+	*)
+	    arg=mail
+    esac
+
+    if command -v pixz > /dev/null; then
+	XZ=pixz
+    else
+	XZ=xz
+    fi
+
+    printf "Unpacking corpus\n"
+    tar --checkpoint=.5000 --extract --strip-components=1 \
+	--directory ${TMP_DIRECTORY} \
+	--use-compress-program ${XZ} \
+	--file ../download/notmuch-email-corpus-${PERFTEST_VERSION}.tar.xz \
+	notmuch-email-corpus/"$arg"
+
+    printf "\n"
+}
+
+print_header () {
+    printf "[v%4s]               Wall(s)\tUsr(s)\tSys(s)\tRes(K)\tIn\tOut\n" \
+	   ${PERFTEST_VERSION}
+}
+
+time_run () {
+    printf "%-22s" "$1"
+    if test "$verbose" != "t"; then exec 4>test.output 3>&4; fi
+    if ! eval >&3 "/usr/bin/time -f '%e\t%U\t%S\t%M\t%I\t%O' $2" ; then
+	test_failure=$(($test_failure + 1))
+    fi
+}
+
+time_done () {
+    if [ "$test_failure" = "0" ]; then
+	rm -rf "$remove_tmp"
+	exit 0
+    else
+	exit 1
+    fi
+}
+
+cd -P "$test" || error "Cannot setup test environment"
+test_failure=0
diff --git a/performance-test/version.sh b/performance-test/version.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d9270b18
--- /dev/null
+++ b/performance-test/version.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# this should be both a valid Makefile fragment and valid POSIX(ish) shell.
+
+PERFTEST_VERSION=0.2