diff --git a/cli/ipfs.go b/cli/ipfs.go
index cbb219ff0..dd62a4e31 100644
--- a/cli/ipfs.go
+++ b/cli/ipfs.go
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ Use "ipfs help <command>" for more information about a command.
 		cmdIpfsAdd,
 		cmdIpfsCat,
 		cmdIpfsLs,
+		cmdIpfsRefs,
 		cmdIpfsVersion,
 		cmdIpfsCommands,
 	},
diff --git a/cli/refs.go b/cli/refs.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d33481415
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cli/refs.go
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"github.com/gonuts/flag"
+	"github.com/jbenet/commander"
+	u "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/util"
+	mh "github.com/jbenet/go-multihash"
+)
+
+var cmdIpfsRefs = &commander.Command{
+	UsageLine: "refs",
+	Short:     "List link hashes from an object.",
+	Long: `ipfs refs <ipfs-path> - List link hashes from an object..
+
+    Retrieves the object named by <ipfs-path> and displays the link
+    hashes it contains, with the following format:
+
+    <link base58 hash>
+
+    Note: list all refs recursively with -r.
+
+`,
+	Run:  refCmd,
+	Flag: *flag.NewFlagSet("ipfs-refs", flag.ExitOnError),
+}
+
+func init() {
+	cmdIpfsRefs.Flag.Bool("r", false, "recursive: list refs recursively")
+	cmdIpfsRefs.Flag.Bool("u", false, "unique: list each ref only once")
+}
+
+func refCmd(c *commander.Command, inp []string) error {
+	if len(inp) < 1 {
+		u.POut(c.Long)
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	n, err := localNode()
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	recursive := c.Flag.Lookup("r").Value.Get().(bool)
+	unique := c.Flag.Lookup("u").Value.Get().(bool)
+	refsSeen := map[u.Key]bool{}
+
+	printRef := func(h mh.Multihash) {
+		if unique {
+			_, found := refsSeen[u.Key(h)]
+			if found {
+				return
+			}
+			refsSeen[u.Key(h)] = true
+		}
+
+		u.POut("%s\n", h.B58String())
+	}
+
+	var printRefs func(h mh.Multihash, recursive bool)
+	printRefs = func(h mh.Multihash, recursive bool) {
+		nd, err := n.GetDagNode(u.Key(h))
+		if err != nil {
+			u.PErr("error: cannot retrieve %s\n", h.B58String())
+			return
+		}
+
+		for _, link := range nd.Links {
+			printRef(link.Hash)
+			if recursive {
+				printRefs(link.Hash, recursive)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	for _, fn := range inp {
+		// for now only hashes, no path resolution
+		h, err := mh.FromB58String(fn)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		printRefs(h, recursive)
+	}
+	return nil
+}