diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 0722f826ec..425c94b262 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -132,6 +132,7 @@
     "multihashes": "~0.4.5",
     "once": "^1.4.0",
     "path-exists": "^3.0.0",
+    "pipe-args": "^1.3.0",
     "peer-book": "^0.4.0",
     "peer-id": "^0.8.7",
     "peer-info": "^0.9.2",
diff --git a/src/cli/bin.js b/src/cli/bin.js
index cd506046dc..dd7eb398b0 100755
--- a/src/cli/bin.js
+++ b/src/cli/bin.js
@@ -2,11 +2,19 @@
 
 'use strict'
 
+const pipe = require('pipe-args')
 const yargs = require('yargs')
 const updateNotifier = require('update-notifier')
 const readPkgUp = require('read-pkg-up')
 const utils = require('./utils')
 
+const enableStdin = [
+  'data', 'path', 'object data', 'ref', 'key', 'ipfs-path', 'add', 'get', 'cat',
+  'name', 'address', 'files', 'peer', 'recursive', 'default-config', 'peer ID'
+]
+
+const hasPipedArgs = pipe.load({ commands: enableStdin })
+
 const pkg = readPkgUp.sync({cwd: __dirname}).pkg
 updateNotifier({
   pkg,
@@ -50,14 +58,15 @@ utils.getIPFS((err, ipfs, cleanup) => {
   if (err) {
     throw err
   }
-
+  
   // finalize cli setup
   cli // eslint-disable-line
     .help()
     .strict(false)
     .completion()
     .parse(args, {
-      ipfs: ipfs
+      ipfs: ipfs,
+      hasPipedArgs: hasPipedArgs 
     }, (err, argv, output) => {
       if (output) {
         console.log(output)
diff --git a/src/cli/commands/files/add.js b/src/cli/commands/files/add.js
index 9d8b7beb7d..0ba208e39d 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands/files/add.js
+++ b/src/cli/commands/files/add.js
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 const fs = require('fs')
 const path = require('path')
+const stream = require('stream')
 const glob = require('glob')
 const sortBy = require('lodash.sortby')
 const pull = require('pull-stream')
@@ -36,6 +37,19 @@ function checkPath (inPath, recursive) {
   return inPath
 }
 
+function printResult (added) {
+  sortBy(added, 'path')
+    .reverse()
+    .map((file) => {
+      const log = [ 'added', file.hash ]
+
+      if (file.path.length > 0) log.push(file.path)
+
+      return log.join(' ')
+    })
+    .forEach((msg) => console.log(msg))
+}
+
 module.exports = {
   command: 'add <file>',
 
@@ -69,8 +83,7 @@ module.exports = {
   },
 
   handler (argv) {
-    const inPath = checkPath(argv.file, argv.recursive)
-    const index = inPath.lastIndexOf('/') + 1
+    const hasPipedArgs = argv.hasPipedArgs
     const options = {
       strategy: argv.trickle ? 'trickle' : 'balanced',
       shardSplitThreshold: argv.enableShardingExperiment ? argv.shardSplitThreshold : Infinity
@@ -94,26 +107,62 @@ module.exports = {
       }
     }
 
-    createAddStream((err, addStream) => {
-      if (err) {
+    // if there are piped arguments, input is data to publish instead of a file
+    // path
+    if(hasPipedArgs) {
+      const data = argv.file
+      const dataStream = new stream.Readable()
+      dataStream.push(Buffer.from(data, 'utf8'))
+      dataStream.push(null)
+      createAddStream((err, addStream) => {
+        if(err)
         throw err
-      }
+        
+        addDataPipeline([dataStream], addStream)
+      })
+    }
+    else {
+      const inPath = checkPath(argv.file, argv.recursive)
+      const index = inPath.lastIndexOf('/') + 1
 
-      glob(path.join(inPath, '/**/*'), (err, list) => {
+      createAddStream((err, addStream) => {
         if (err) {
           throw err
         }
-        if (list.length === 0) {
-          list = [inPath]
-        }
+      
+        glob(path.join(inPath, '/**/*'), (err, list) => {
+          if (err) {
+            throw err
+          }
+          if (list.length === 0) {
+            list = [inPath]
+          }
+
+          addFilePipeline(index, addStream, list, argv.wrapWithDirectory)
+        })
+      })   
+    }
+  }
+}
 
-        addPipeline(index, addStream, list, argv.wrapWithDirectory)
-      })
+function addDataPipeline (dataStream, addStream) {
+  pull(
+    pull.values(dataStream),
+    pull.map(dataStream => {
+      return { path: '', content: dataStream }
+    }),
+    addStream,
+    pull.collect((err, added) => {
+      if(err) {
+        throw err
+      }
+      printResult(added)
     })
-  }
+  )
 }
 
-function addPipeline (index, addStream, list, wrapWithDirectory) {
+
+function addFilePipeline (index, addStream, list, wrapWithDirectory) {
   pull(
     zip(
       pull.values(list),
@@ -122,16 +171,19 @@ function addPipeline (index, addStream, list, wrapWithDirectory) {
         paramap(fs.stat.bind(fs), 50)
       )
     ),
-    pull.map((pair) => ({
-      path: pair[0],
-      isDirectory: pair[1].isDirectory()
-    })),
-    pull.filter((file) => !file.isDirectory),
+    pull.map((pair) => { 
+      return ({
+        path: pair[0],
+        isDirectory: pair[1].isDirectory()
+    })}),
+    pull.filter((file) => {
+      return !file.isDirectory
+    }),
     pull.map((file) => ({
       path: file.path.substring(index, file.path.length),
       originalPath: file.path
     })),
-    pull.map((file) => ({
+    pull.map((file) => ({ 
       path: wrapWithDirectory ? path.join(WRAPPER, file.path) : file.path,
       content: fs.createReadStream(file.originalPath)
     })),
@@ -144,17 +196,7 @@ function addPipeline (index, addStream, list, wrapWithDirectory) {
       if (err) {
         throw err
       }
-
-      sortBy(added, 'path')
-        .reverse()
-        .map((file) => {
-          const log = [ 'added', file.hash ]
-
-          if (file.path.length > 0) log.push(file.path)
-
-          return log.join(' ')
-        })
-        .forEach((msg) => console.log(msg))
+      printResult(added)
     })
   )
 }
diff --git a/test/cli/files.js b/test/cli/files.js
index 7dc01599c6..9b6a4af096 100644
--- a/test/cli/files.js
+++ b/test/cli/files.js
@@ -127,6 +127,15 @@ describe('files', () => runOnAndOff((thing) => {
       })
   })
 
+  it('add with piped argument', () => {
+    // echo 'src/init-files/init-docs/readme' | jsipfs files add
+    return ipfs('files add', { piped: 'readme' })
+      .then((out) => {
+        expect(out)
+          .to.eql('added QmR9th2YSQrZsbENPmjeQ8JKor9noz9aoKfAsZw5SE3d6K QmR9th2YSQrZsbENPmjeQ8JKor9noz9aoKfAsZw5SE3d6K\n')
+      })
+  })
+
   it('add and wrap with a directory', () => {
     return ipfs('add -w src/init-files/init-docs/readme').then((out) => {
       expect(out).to.be.eql([
diff --git a/test/utils/ipfs-exec.js b/test/utils/ipfs-exec.js
index 2d7f3746e5..a9701abbee 100644
--- a/test/utils/ipfs-exec.js
+++ b/test/utils/ipfs-exec.js
@@ -33,11 +33,24 @@ module.exports = (repoPath, opts) => {
 
   function ipfs () {
     let args = Array.from(arguments)
-    if (args.length === 1) {
+    let pipedArgs
+
+    _.map(args, arg => arg.piped ? (pipedArgs = arg.piped) : '')
+
+    if (args.length === 1 || args.length === 2 && pipedArgs) {
       args = args[0].split(' ')
     }
 
     const cp = exec(args)
+
+    // Passes content of pipedArgs to childProcess as if jsipfs had been called
+    // with piped arguments
+    if (pipedArgs) {
+      cp.stdin.setEncoding('utf-8')
+      cp.stdin.write(`${pipedArgs}\n`)
+      cp.stdin.end()
+    }
+
     const res = cp.then((res) => {
       // We can't escape the os.tmpdir warning due to:
       // https://github.com/shelljs/shelljs/blob/master/src/tempdir.js#L43