diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 96ede489fd..f79708af11 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ git-annex (7.20181206) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
     --exclude, --want-get, --want-drop to filenames from the branch.
     Previously, combining --branch with those would fail to match anything.
   * add, import, findref: Support --time-limit.
+  * Add --branch option to git-annex find and mildly deprecate findref in
+    favor of it.
 
  -- Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>  Thu, 06 Dec 2018 13:39:16 -0400
 
diff --git a/CmdLine/GitAnnex/Options.hs b/CmdLine/GitAnnex/Options.hs
index 253574bf6d..4f99782588 100644
--- a/CmdLine/GitAnnex/Options.hs
+++ b/CmdLine/GitAnnex/Options.hs
@@ -174,10 +174,7 @@ data KeyOptions
 
 parseKeyOptions :: Parser KeyOptions
 parseKeyOptions = parseAllOption
-	<|> WantBranchKeys <$> some (option (str >>= pure . Ref)
-		( long "branch" <> metavar paramRef
-		<> help "operate on files in the specified branch or treeish"
-		))
+	<|> parseBranchKeysOption
 	<|> flag' WantUnusedKeys
 		( long "unused" <> short 'U'
 		<> help "operate on files found by last run of git-annex unused"
@@ -187,6 +184,13 @@ parseKeyOptions = parseAllOption
 		<> help "operate on specified key"
 		))
 
+parseBranchKeysOption :: Parser KeyOptions
+parseBranchKeysOption =
+	WantBranchKeys <$> some (option (str >>= pure . Ref)
+		( long "branch" <> metavar paramRef
+		<> help "operate on files in the specified branch or treeish"
+		))
+
 parseFailedTransfersOption :: Parser KeyOptions
 parseFailedTransfersOption = flag' WantFailedTransfers
 	( long "failed"
diff --git a/CmdLine/Seek.hs b/CmdLine/Seek.hs
index 8b65532dc4..efb373fb40 100644
--- a/CmdLine/Seek.hs
+++ b/CmdLine/Seek.hs
@@ -79,22 +79,6 @@ withFilesNotInGit skipdotfiles a l
 	go fs = seekActions $ prepFiltered a $
 		return $ concat $ segmentPaths (map (\(WorkTreeItem f) -> f) l) fs
 
-withFilesInRefs :: ((FilePath, Key) -> CommandSeek) -> [Git.Ref] -> CommandSeek
-withFilesInRefs a = mapM_ go
-  where
-	go r = do	
-		matcher <- Limit.getMatcher
-		(l, cleanup) <- inRepo $ LsTree.lsTree r
-		forM_ l $ \ti -> do
-			let f = getTopFilePath $ LsTree.file ti
-			catKey (LsTree.sha ti) >>= \case
-				Nothing -> noop
-				Just k -> 
-					let i = MatchingKey k (AssociatedFile (Just f))
-					in whenM (matcher i) $
-						a (f, k)
-		liftIO $ void cleanup
-
 withPathContents :: ((FilePath, FilePath) -> CommandSeek) -> CmdParams -> CommandSeek
 withPathContents a params = do
 	matcher <- Limit.getMatcher
diff --git a/Command/Find.hs b/Command/Find.hs
index 46b8d98038..9c7b82016d 100644
--- a/Command/Find.hs
+++ b/Command/Find.hs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {- git-annex command
  -
- - Copyright 2010-2012 Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>
+ - Copyright 2010-2018 Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>
  -
  - Licensed under the GNU GPL version 3 or higher.
  -}
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ import Command
 import Annex.Content
 import Limit
 import Types.Key
+import Types.ActionItem
+import Git.FilePath
 import qualified Utility.Format
 import Utility.DataUnits
 
@@ -28,6 +30,7 @@ mkCommand = noCommit . noMessages . withGlobalOptions [jsonOptions]
 data FindOptions = FindOptions
 	{ findThese :: CmdParams
 	, formatOption :: Maybe Utility.Format.Format
+	, keyOptions :: Maybe KeyOptions
 	, batchOption :: BatchMode
 	}
 
@@ -35,6 +38,7 @@ optParser :: CmdParamsDesc -> Parser FindOptions
 optParser desc = FindOptions
 	<$> cmdParams desc
 	<*> optional parseFormatOption
+	<*> optional parseBranchKeysOption
 	<*> parseBatchOption
 
 parseFormatOption :: Parser Utility.Format.Format
@@ -50,7 +54,9 @@ parseFormatOption =
 
 seek :: FindOptions -> CommandSeek
 seek o = case batchOption o of
-	NoBatch -> withFilesInGit (commandAction . go)
+	NoBatch -> withKeyOptions (keyOptions o) False
+		(commandAction . startKeys o)
+		(withFilesInGit (commandAction . go))
 		=<< workTreeItems (findThese o)
 	Batch fmt -> batchFilesMatching fmt go
   where
@@ -66,6 +72,11 @@ start o file key = ifM (limited <||> inAnnex key)
 	, stop
 	)
 
+startKeys :: FindOptions -> (Key, ActionItem) -> CommandStart
+startKeys o (key, ActionItemBranchFilePath (BranchFilePath _ topf)) = 
+	start o (getTopFilePath topf) key
+startKeys _ _ = stop
+
 showFormatted :: Maybe Utility.Format.Format -> String -> [(String, String)] -> Annex ()
 showFormatted format unformatted vars =
 	unlessM (showFullJSON $ JSONChunk vars) $
diff --git a/Command/FindRef.hs b/Command/FindRef.hs
index 42ffbad870..f09ed4b9e3 100644
--- a/Command/FindRef.hs
+++ b/Command/FindRef.hs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {- git-annex command
  -
- - Copyright 2014 Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>
+ - Copyright 2014-2018 Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>
  -
  - Licensed under the GNU GPL version 3 or higher.
  -}
@@ -14,9 +14,14 @@ import qualified Git
 cmd :: Command
 cmd = withGlobalOptions [annexedMatchingOptions] $ Find.mkCommand $ 
 	command "findref" SectionPlumbing
-		"lists files in a git ref"
+		"lists files in a git ref (deprecated)"
 		paramRef (seek <$$> Find.optParser)
 
 seek :: Find.FindOptions -> CommandSeek
-seek o = (commandAction . uncurry (Find.start o))
-	`withFilesInRefs` (map Git.Ref $ Find.findThese o)
+seek o = Find.seek o'
+  where
+	o' = o 
+		{ Find.keyOptions = Just $ WantBranchKeys $
+			map Git.Ref (Find.findThese o)
+		, Find.findThese = []
+		}
diff --git a/doc/git-annex-find.mdwn b/doc/git-annex-find.mdwn
index 6e5a319759..cbd59b5ad3 100644
--- a/doc/git-annex-find.mdwn
+++ b/doc/git-annex-find.mdwn
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ finds files in the current directory and its subdirectories.
 
   To list annexed files whose content is not present, specify `--not --in=here`
 
+* `--branch=ref`
+
+  List files in the specified branch or treeish.
+
 * `--print0`
 
   Output filenames terminated with nulls, for use with `xargs -0`
diff --git a/doc/git-annex-findref.mdwn b/doc/git-annex-findref.mdwn
index ce07e0ee46..6406e404bb 100644
--- a/doc/git-annex-findref.mdwn
+++ b/doc/git-annex-findref.mdwn
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # NAME
 
-git-annex findref - lists files in a git ref
+git-annex findref - lists files in a git ref (deprecated)
 
 # SYNOPSIS
 
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ git annex findref `[ref]`
 
 # DESCRIPTION
 
-This is very similar to the `git-annex find` command, but instead of
-finding files in the current work tree, it finds files in the
-specified git ref.
+This is the same as `git annex find` with the --branch option, and you're
+encouraged to use that instead unless you need to support older versions of
+git-annex.
 
 # OPTIONS
 
diff --git a/doc/git-annex.mdwn b/doc/git-annex.mdwn
index a0c0f6e0f3..095f2a8169 100644
--- a/doc/git-annex.mdwn
+++ b/doc/git-annex.mdwn
@@ -660,7 +660,7 @@ subdirectories).
 
 * `findref [ref]`
 
-  Lists files in a git ref.
+  Lists files in a git ref. (deprecated)
   
   See [[git-annex-findref]](1) for details.