diff --git a/actions/peoplesearch.php b/actions/peoplesearch.php
index 6b03169a02..d493c76678 100644
--- a/actions/peoplesearch.php
+++ b/actions/peoplesearch.php
@@ -40,16 +40,12 @@ class PeoplesearchAction extends SearchAction {
 		# lcase it for comparison
 		$q = strtolower($q);
 
-		if(common_config('db','type')=='mysql') {
-			$profile->whereAdd('MATCH(nickname, fullname, location, bio, homepage) ' .
-						   'against (\''.addslashes($q).'\')');
-		} else {
-			$profile->whereAdd('textsearch @@ plainto_tsquery(\''.addslashes($q).'\')');
-		}
+        $search_engine = $profile->getSearchEngine();
+
+        $search_engine->query($q);
 
 		# Ask for an extra to see if there's more.
-
-		$profile->limit((($page-1)*PROFILES_PER_PAGE), PROFILES_PER_PAGE + 1);
+        $search_engine->limit((($page-1)*PROFILES_PER_PAGE), PROFILES_PER_PAGE + 1);
 
 		$cnt = $profile->find();
 
diff --git a/classes/Profile.php b/classes/Profile.php
index 794dc1de93..9de92ec4bc 100644
--- a/classes/Profile.php
+++ b/classes/Profile.php
@@ -46,6 +46,21 @@ class Profile extends Memcached_DataObject
     /* the code above is auto generated do not remove the tag below */
     ###END_AUTOCODE
 
+    function getSearchEngine() {
+        require_once INSTALLDIR.'/classes/SearchEngines.php';
+        static $search_engine;
+        if (!isset($search_engine)) {
+                if (common_config('sphinx', 'enabled')) {
+                    $search_engine = new SphinxSearch($this);
+                } elseif ('mysql' === common_config('db', 'type')) {
+                    $search_engine = new MySQLSearch($this);
+                } else {
+                    $search_engine = new PGSearch($this);
+                }
+        }
+        return $search_engine;
+    }
+
 	function getAvatar($width, $height=NULL) {
 		if (is_null($height)) {
 			$height = $width;
diff --git a/classes/SearchEngines.php b/classes/SearchEngines.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e5f4e14ea7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/classes/SearchEngines.php
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+<?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); }
+
+class SearchEngine {
+    protected $profile;
+
+    function __construct($profile) {
+        $this->profile = $profile;
+    }
+
+    function query($q) {
+    }
+
+    function limit($offset, $count) {
+        return $this->profile->limit($offset, $count);
+    }
+}
+
+class SphinxSearch extends SearchEngine {
+    private $sphinx;
+
+    function __construct($profile) {
+        parent::__construct($profile);
+        $this->sphinx = new SphinxClient;
+        $this->sphinx->setServer(common_config('sphinx', 'server'), common_config('sphinx', 'port'));
+    }
+
+    function limit($offset, $count) {
+        $this->sphinx->setLimits($offset, $count);
+        $this->profile->limit($offset, $count);
+    }
+
+    function query($q) {
+        $result = $this->sphinx->query($q);
+        if (!isset($result['matches'])) return false;
+        $id_set = join(', ', array_keys($result['matches']));
+        return $this->profile->whereAdd("id in ($id_set)");
+     }
+}
+
+class MySQLSearch extends SearchEngine {
+    function query($q) {
+        return $this->profile->whereAdd('MATCH(nickname, fullname, location, bio, homepage) ' .
+						   'against (\''.addslashes($q).'\')');
+    }
+}
+
+class PGSearch extends SearchEngine {
+    function query($q) {
+        $this->profile->whereAdd('textsearch @@ plainto_tsquery(\''.addslashes($q).'\')');
+    }
+}
+
diff --git a/lib/common.php b/lib/common.php
index def1833753..acea1252cc 100644
--- a/lib/common.php
+++ b/lib/common.php
@@ -102,6 +102,10 @@ $config =
 			  'host' => NULL, # only set if != server
 			  'debug' => false, # print extra debug info
 			  'public' => array()), # JIDs of users who want to receive the public stream
+        'sphinx' =>
+        array('enabled' => false,
+              'server' => 'localhost',
+              'port' => 3312),
 		'tag' =>
 		array('dropoff' => 864000.0),
 		'daemon' =>