diff --git a/app/CMakeLists.txt b/app/CMakeLists.txt
index 7d811d0..bf1be14 100644
--- a/app/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/app/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -10,4 +10,5 @@ if(NOT ${BR_EMBEDDED})
   add_subdirectory(br-crawl)
   add_subdirectory(br-enroll)
   add_subdirectory(br-gui)
+  add_subdirectory(br-search)
 endif()
diff --git a/app/br-download/br-download.cpp b/app/br-download/br-download.cpp
index af96e2c..a15237e 100644
--- a/app/br-download/br-download.cpp
+++ b/app/br-download/br-download.cpp
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ static bool processReply(QNetworkReply* reply)
         return false;
 
     const QByteArray hash = QCryptographicHash::hash(data, QCryptographicHash::Md5);
-    br_append_utemplate_contents(stdout, reinterpret_cast<const int8_t*>(hash.data()), reinterpret_cast<const int8_t*>(hash.data()), 3, data.size(), reinterpret_cast<const int8_t*>(data.data()));
+    br_append_utemplate_contents(stdout, reinterpret_cast<const int8_t*>(hash.data()), reinterpret_cast<const int8_t*>(hash.data()), 3, data.size(), reinterpret_cast<const unsigned char*>(data.data()));
     return true;
 }
 
diff --git a/app/br-enroll/br-enroll.cpp b/app/br-enroll/br-enroll.cpp
index b10d9a7..cb7ee65 100644
--- a/app/br-enroll/br-enroll.cpp
+++ b/app/br-enroll/br-enroll.cpp
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ static void help()
 
 static QSharedPointer<Transform> algorithm;
 
-static void enroll_utemplate(br_const_utemplate utemplate)
+static void enroll_utemplate(br_const_utemplate utemplate, br_callback_context)
 {
     if (utemplate->algorithmID != 3)
         qFatal("Expected an encoded image.");
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ static void enroll_utemplate(br_const_utemplate utemplate)
         const Mat &m = t.m();
         const uint32_t size = m.rows * m.cols * m.elemSize();
         const QByteArray templateID = QCryptographicHash::hash(QByteArray((const char*) m.data, size), QCryptographicHash::Md5);
-        br_append_utemplate_contents(stdout, utemplate->imageID, (const int8_t*) templateID.data(), -1, size, (const int8_t*) m.data);
+        br_append_utemplate_contents(stdout, utemplate->imageID, (const int8_t*) templateID.data(), -1, size, m.data);
     }
 }
 
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
     Context::initialize(argc, argv, "", false);
     Globals->quiet = true;
     algorithm = Transform::fromAlgorithm("FaceRecognition");
-    br_iterate_utemplates_file(stdin, enroll_utemplate);
+    br_iterate_utemplates_file(stdin, enroll_utemplate, NULL);
     Context::finalize();
     return EXIT_SUCCESS;
 }
diff --git a/app/br-search/CMakeLists.txt b/app/br-search/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b1fd566
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/br-search/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+add_executable(br-search br-search.cpp ${BR_RESOURCES})
+target_link_libraries(br-search openbr ${BR_THIRDPARTY_LIBS})
+qt5_use_modules(br-search ${QT_DEPENDENCIES})
+install(TARGETS br-search RUNTIME DESTINATION bin)
diff --git a/app/br-search/br-search.cpp b/app/br-search/br-search.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..39a0888
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/br-search/br-search.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,144 @@
+/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
+ * Copyright 2014 Noblis                                                     *
+ *                                                                           *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");           *
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.          *
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at                                   *
+ *                                                                           *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0                            *
+ *                                                                           *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software       *
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,         *
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.  *
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and       *
+ * limitations under the License.                                            *
+ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */
+
+#include <QtCore>
+#include <cstdio>
+#include <cstring>
+#include <limits>
+#include <openbr/openbr_plugin.h>
+#include <openbr/universal_template.h>
+
+using namespace br;
+using namespace cv;
+
+static void help()
+{
+    printf("br-search URL(s) [args]\n"
+           "=======================\n"
+           "* __stdin__  - Templates (feature vectors)\n"
+           "* __stdout__ - JSON\n"
+           "\n"
+           "_br-search_ does retrieval by comparing query templates to target gallery(s).\n"
+           "The search strategy is implementation defined.\n"
+           "\n"
+           "For every template read from _stdin_, search writes the top sorted matches as JSON objects to _stdout_ by comparing the query template against gallery URLs.\n"
+           "The JSON objects include `AlgorithmID`, `QueryImageID`, `QueryTemplateID`, `TargetImageID`, `TargetTemplateID`, `Score`, and any algorithm-specific metadata fields set during _enroll_. \n"
+           "\n"
+           "Optional Arguments\n"
+           "------------------\n"
+           "* -help        - Print usage information.\n"
+           "* -limit <int> - Maximum number of returns (20 otherwise).\n");
+}
+
+static int limit = 20;
+static float threshold = -std::numeric_limits<float>::max();
+
+struct Result
+{
+    int8_t targetImageID[16], targetTemplateID[16], queryImageID[16], queryTemplateID[16];
+    int32_t algorithmID;
+    float score;
+};
+
+struct TopTargets : QList< QPair<br_const_utemplate, float> >
+{
+    br_const_utemplate query;
+
+    TopTargets(br_const_utemplate query)
+        : query(query) {}
+
+    void tryAdd(br_const_utemplate target, float score)
+    {
+        if ((score < threshold) || ((size() == limit) && (score < last().second)))
+            return;
+        (void) target;
+    }
+
+    void print() const
+    {
+
+    }
+};
+
+struct FaceRecognitionResult : public Result
+{
+    int32_t x, y, width, height;
+
+    FaceRecognitionResult()
+    {
+        algorithmID = -1;
+    }
+};
+
+struct MappedGallery
+{
+    QSharedPointer<QFile> file;
+    qint64 size;
+    uchar *data;
+
+    MappedGallery(QString url)
+    {
+        if (url.startsWith("file://"))
+            url = url.mid(7);
+        file.reset(new QFile(url));
+        file->open(QFile::ReadOnly);
+        size = file->size();
+        data = file->map(0, size);
+        if (data == NULL)
+            qFatal("Unable to map gallery: %s", qPrintable(url));
+    }
+};
+
+static QSharedPointer<Distance> distance;
+static QList<MappedGallery> galleries;
+
+static void compare_utemplates(br_const_utemplate target, br_callback_context context)
+{
+    TopTargets *topTargets = (TopTargets*) context;
+    topTargets->tryAdd(target, distance->compare(target->data, topTargets->query->data, 768));
+}
+
+static void search_utemplate(br_const_utemplate query, br_callback_context)
+{
+    TopTargets *topTargets = new TopTargets(query);
+    foreach (const MappedGallery &gallery, galleries)
+        br_iterate_utemplates(reinterpret_cast<br_const_utemplate>(gallery.data), reinterpret_cast<br_const_utemplate>(gallery.data + gallery.size), compare_utemplates, topTargets);
+    topTargets->print();
+    delete topTargets;
+}
+
+int main(int argc, char *argv[])
+{
+    QStringList urls;
+    for (int i=1; i<argc; i++) {
+        if      (!strcmp(argv[i], "-help" ))     { help(); exit(EXIT_SUCCESS); }
+        else if (!strcmp(argv[i], "-limit"))     limit = atoi(argv[++i]);
+        else if (!strcmp(argv[i], "-threshold")) threshold = atof(argv[++i]);
+        else                                     urls.append(argv[i]);
+    }
+
+    Context::initialize(argc, argv, "", false);
+
+    foreach (const QString &url, urls)
+        galleries.append(MappedGallery(url));
+
+    Globals->quiet = true;
+    distance = Distance::fromAlgorithm("FaceRecognition");
+    br_iterate_utemplates_file(stdin, search_utemplate, NULL);
+
+    Context::finalize();
+    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
+}
diff --git a/openbr/openbr_plugin.cpp b/openbr/openbr_plugin.cpp
index 887f19f..eafc31e 100644
--- a/openbr/openbr_plugin.cpp
+++ b/openbr/openbr_plugin.cpp
@@ -1405,7 +1405,12 @@ float Distance::compare(const Template &a, const Template &b) const
     return similarity;
 }
 
-float Distance::compare(const cv::Mat &, const cv::Mat &) const
+float Distance::compare(const cv::Mat &a, const cv::Mat &b) const
+{
+    return compare(a.data, b.data, a.rows * a.cols * a.elemSize());
+}
+
+float Distance::compare(const uchar *, const uchar *, size_t) const
 {
     qFatal("Logic error: %s did not implement a comparison function or was accessed at an unsupported level of abstraction.", metaObject()->className());
     return -std::numeric_limits<float>::max();
diff --git a/openbr/openbr_plugin.h b/openbr/openbr_plugin.h
index 26f5852..c00924b 100644
--- a/openbr/openbr_plugin.h
+++ b/openbr/openbr_plugin.h
@@ -1335,6 +1335,7 @@ public:
     virtual QList<float> compare(const TemplateList &targets, const Template &query) const; /*!< \brief Compute the normalized distance between a template and a template list. */
     virtual float compare(const Template &a, const Template &b) const; /*!< \brief Compute the distance between two templates. */
     virtual float compare(const cv::Mat &a, const cv::Mat &b) const; /*!< \brief Compute the distance between two biometric signatures. */
+    virtual float compare(const uchar *a, const uchar *b, size_t size) const; /*!< \brief Compute the distance between two buffers. */
 
 protected:
     inline Distance *make(const QString &description) { return make(description, this); } /*!< \brief Make a subdistance. */
diff --git a/openbr/plugins/distance.cpp b/openbr/plugins/distance.cpp
index c79d161..34e91e8 100644
--- a/openbr/plugins/distance.cpp
+++ b/openbr/plugins/distance.cpp
@@ -282,9 +282,9 @@ class ByteL1Distance : public Distance
 {
     Q_OBJECT
 
-    float compare(const Mat &a, const Mat &b) const
+    float compare(const unsigned char *a, const unsigned char *b, size_t size) const
     {
-        return l1(a.data, b.data, a.total());
+        return l1(a, b, size);
     }
 };
 
diff --git a/openbr/universal_template.cpp b/openbr/universal_template.cpp
index eb47258..67fbfda 100644
--- a/openbr/universal_template.cpp
+++ b/openbr/universal_template.cpp
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ void br_append_utemplate(FILE *file, br_const_utemplate utemplate)
     br_append_utemplate_contents(file, utemplate->imageID, utemplate->templateID, utemplate->algorithmID, utemplate->size, utemplate->data);
 }
 
-void br_append_utemplate_contents(FILE *file, const int8_t *imageID, const int8_t *templateID, int32_t algorithmID, uint32_t size, const int8_t *data)
+void br_append_utemplate_contents(FILE *file, const int8_t *imageID, const int8_t *templateID, int32_t algorithmID, uint32_t size, const unsigned char *data)
 {
     static QMutex lock;
     QMutexLocker locker(&lock);
@@ -39,15 +39,15 @@ void br_append_utemplate_contents(FILE *file, const int8_t *imageID, const int8_
     fwrite(data, 1, size, file);
 }
 
-void br_iterate_utemplates(br_const_utemplate begin, br_const_utemplate end, br_utemplate_callback callback)
+void br_iterate_utemplates(br_const_utemplate begin, br_const_utemplate end, br_utemplate_callback callback, br_callback_context context)
 {
     while (begin != end) {
-        callback(begin);
+        callback(begin, context);
         begin = reinterpret_cast<br_const_utemplate>(reinterpret_cast<const char*>(begin) + sizeof(br_const_utemplate) + begin->size);
     }
 }
 
-void br_iterate_utemplates_file(FILE *file, br_utemplate_callback callback)
+void br_iterate_utemplates_file(FILE *file, br_utemplate_callback callback, br_callback_context context)
 {
     while (!feof(file)) {
         br_utemplate t = (br_utemplate) malloc(sizeof(br_universal_template));
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ void br_iterate_utemplates_file(FILE *file, br_utemplate_callback callback)
             t = (br_utemplate) realloc(t, sizeof(br_universal_template) + t->size);
             if (fread(t+1, 1, t->size, file) != t->size)
                 qFatal("Unexepected EOF when reading universal template data.");
-            callback(t);
+            callback(t, context);
         }
 
         free(t);
diff --git a/openbr/universal_template.h b/openbr/universal_template.h
index 9a8e3c6..a71f711 100644
--- a/openbr/universal_template.h
+++ b/openbr/universal_template.h
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ struct br_universal_template
     int8_t   templateID[16]; /*!< MD5 hash of _data_. */
     int32_t  algorithmID;    /*!< type of _data_. */
     uint32_t size;           /*!< length of _data_. */
-    int8_t   data[];         /*!< _size_-byte buffer. */
+    unsigned char data[];    /*!< _size_-byte buffer. */
 };
 
 typedef struct br_universal_template *br_utemplate;
@@ -62,25 +62,26 @@ BR_EXPORT void br_append_utemplate(FILE *file, br_const_utemplate utemplate);
  * \brief Serialize a br_universal_template to a file.
  * \see br_append_utemplate
  */
-BR_EXPORT void br_append_utemplate_contents(FILE *file, const int8_t *imageID, const int8_t *templateID, int32_t algorithmID, uint32_t size, const int8_t *data);
+BR_EXPORT void br_append_utemplate_contents(FILE *file, const int8_t *imageID, const int8_t *templateID, int32_t algorithmID, uint32_t size, const unsigned char *data);
 
 /*!
  * \brief br_universal_template iterator callback.
  * \see br_iterate_utemplates
  */
-typedef void (*br_utemplate_callback)(br_const_utemplate);
+typedef void *br_callback_context;
+typedef void (*br_utemplate_callback)(br_const_utemplate, br_callback_context);
 
 /*!
  * \brief Iterate over an inplace array of br_universal_template.
  * \see br_iterate_utemplates_file
  */
-BR_EXPORT void br_iterate_utemplates(br_const_utemplate begin, br_const_utemplate end, br_utemplate_callback callback);
+BR_EXPORT void br_iterate_utemplates(br_const_utemplate begin, br_const_utemplate end, br_utemplate_callback callback, br_callback_context context);
 
 /*!
  * \brief Iterate over br_universal_template in a file.
  * \see br_iterate_utemplates
  */
-BR_EXPORT void br_iterate_utemplates_file(FILE *file, br_utemplate_callback callback);
+BR_EXPORT void br_iterate_utemplates_file(FILE *file, br_utemplate_callback callback, br_callback_context context);
 
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }