diff --git a/src/cli/commands/pin/add.js b/src/cli/commands/pin/add.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a0ff92806b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cli/commands/pin/add.js
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+'use strict'
+
+const Command = require('ronin').Command
+const utils = require('../../utils')
+const debug = require('debug')
+const log = debug('cli:pin')
+log.error = debug('cli:pin:error')
+const bs58 = require('bs58')
+
+module.exports = Command.extend({
+  desc: 'Pins objects to local storage.',
+
+  options: {
+    // Recursively pin the object linked to by the specified object(s)
+    recursive: {
+      alias: 'r',
+      type: 'boolean',
+      default: true
+    }
+  },
+
+  run: (recursive, path) => {
+    utils.getIPFS((err, ipfs) => {
+      if (err) {
+        console.error(err)
+        throw err
+      }
+      const matched = path.match(/^(?:\/ipfs\/)?([^\/]+(?:\/[^\/]+)*)\/?$/)
+      if (!matched) {
+        err = new Error('invalid ipfs ref path')
+        console.error(err)
+        throw err
+      }
+      const split = matched[1].split('/')
+      const rootHash = split[0]
+      const key = new Buffer(bs58.decode(rootHash))
+      const links = split.slice(1, split.length)
+      const pathFn = (err, obj) => {
+        if (err) {
+          console.error(err)
+          throw err
+        }
+        if (links.length) {
+          const linkName = links.shift()
+          const nextLink = obj.links.filter((link) => {
+            return (link.name === linkName)
+          })
+          if (!nextLink.length) {
+            err = new Error(
+              'pin: no link named ' + linkName +
+              ' under ' + obj.toJSON().Hash
+            )
+            console.error(err)
+            throw err
+          }
+          const nextHash = nextLink[0].hash
+          ipfs.object.get(nextHash, pathFn)
+        } else {
+          ipfs.pinner.pin(obj, recursive, (err) => {
+            if (err) {
+              console.error(err)
+              throw err
+            }
+            const mode = recursive ? ' recursively' : ' directly'
+            console.log('pinned ' + obj.toJSON().Hash + mode)
+          })
+        }
+      }
+
+      ipfs.object.get(key, pathFn)
+    })
+  }
+})
diff --git a/test/cli/test-pin.js b/test/cli/test-pin.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3a7892a9f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cli/test-pin.js
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+/* eslint-env mocha */
+'use strict'
+
+const expect = require('chai').expect
+const nexpect = require('nexpect')
+const repoPath = require('./index').repoPath
+const _ = require('lodash')
+
+// use a tree of ipfs objects for recursive tests:
+//  root
+//   |`leaf
+//    `branch
+//      `subLeaf
+
+const filenames = [
+  'root.json', 'leaf.json', 'branch.json', 'subLeaf.json'
+]
+const keys = {
+  'root.json': 'QmWQwS2Xh1SFGMPzUVYQ52b7RC7fTfiaPHm3ZyTRZuHmer',
+  'leaf.json': 'QmaZoTQ6wFe7EtvaePBUeXavfeRqCAq3RUMomFxBpZLrLA',
+  'branch.json': 'QmNxjjP7dtx6pzxWGBRCrgmjX3JqKL7uF2Kjx7ExiZDbSB',
+  'subLeaf.json': 'QmUzzznkyQL7FjjBztG3D1tTjBuxeArLceDZnuSowUggXL'
+}
+const rootHash = keys['root.json']
+
+describe('pin', function () {
+  this.timeout(20 * 1000)
+  const env = _.clone(process.env)
+  env.IPFS_PATH = repoPath
+  const opts = {env: env, stream: 'all'}
+  const bin = process.cwd() + '/src/cli/bin.js'
+  const filesDir = process.cwd() + '/test/test-data/tree/'
+
+  before((done) => {
+    var doneCount = 0
+    filenames.forEach((filename) => {
+      const hash = keys[filename]
+      nexpect.spawn('node', [bin, 'object', 'put', filesDir + filename], opts)
+        .run((err, stdout, exitcode) => {
+          expect(err).to.not.exist
+          expect(stdout[0]).to.equal('added ' + hash)
+          doneCount === filenames.length - 1 ? done() : doneCount++
+        })
+    })
+  })
+
+  describe('api offline', () => {
+    it('add (recursively by default)', (done) => {
+      nexpect.spawn('node', [bin, 'pin', 'add', rootHash], opts)
+        .run((err, stdout, exitcode) => {
+          expect(err).to.not.exist
+          expect(exitcode).to.equal(0)
+          expect(stdout[0]).to.equal('pinned ' + rootHash + ' recursively')
+          done()
+        })
+    })
+  })
+})
diff --git a/test/test-data/tree/branch.json b/test/test-data/tree/branch.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..459498c85c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test-data/tree/branch.json
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{"Links":[{"Name":"subLeaf","Hash":"QmUzzznkyQL7FjjBztG3D1tTjBuxeArLceDZnuSowUggXL","Size":15}],"Data":"\u0008\u0001"}
diff --git a/test/test-data/tree/leaf.json b/test/test-data/tree/leaf.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..547be2cd24
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test-data/tree/leaf.json
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{"Links":[],"Data":"\u0008\u0002\u0012\u0004leaf\u0018\u0004"}
diff --git a/test/test-data/tree/root.json b/test/test-data/tree/root.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..22f1229788
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test-data/tree/root.json
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{"Links":[{"Name":"leaf","Hash":"QmaZoTQ6wFe7EtvaePBUeXavfeRqCAq3RUMomFxBpZLrLA","Size":12},{"Name":"branch","Hash":"QmNxjjP7dtx6pzxWGBRCrgmjX3JqKL7uF2Kjx7ExiZDbSB","Size":68}],"Data":"\u0008\u0001"}
diff --git a/test/test-data/tree/subLeaf.json b/test/test-data/tree/subLeaf.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d77789e6f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test-data/tree/subLeaf.json
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{"Links":[],"Data":"\u0008\u0002\u0012\u0007subLeaf\u0018\u0007"}