diff --git a/Command/P2PHttp.hs b/Command/P2PHttp.hs
index 0c55f09a3b..5246b09302 100644
--- a/Command/P2PHttp.hs
+++ b/Command/P2PHttp.hs
@@ -16,6 +16,10 @@ import P2P.Http.Server
 import P2P.Http.Url
 import qualified P2P.Protocol as P2P
 import Utility.Env
+import Annex.UUID
+import qualified Git
+import qualified Git.Construct
+import qualified Annex
 
 import Servant
 import qualified Network.Wai.Handler.Warp as Warp
@@ -25,10 +29,12 @@ import qualified Data.Map as M
 import Data.String
 
 cmd :: Command
-cmd = noMessages $ withAnnexOptions [jobsOption] $
-	command "p2phttp" SectionPlumbing
-		"communicate in P2P protocol over http"
-		paramNothing (seek <$$> optParser)
+cmd = withAnnexOptions [jobsOption] $
+	noMessages $ dontCheck repoExists $ 
+		noRepo (startIO <$$> optParser) $
+			command "p2phttp" SectionPlumbing
+				"communicate in P2P protocol over http"
+				paramNothing (startAnnex <$$> optParser)
 
 data Options = Options
 	{ portOption :: Maybe PortNumber
@@ -44,6 +50,7 @@ data Options = Options
 	, wideOpenOption :: Bool
 	, proxyConnectionsOption :: Maybe Integer
 	, clusterJobsOption :: Maybe Int
+	, directoryOption :: [FilePath]
 	}
 
 optParser :: CmdParamsDesc -> Parser Options
@@ -100,22 +107,41 @@ optParser _ = Options
 		( long "clusterjobs" <> metavar paramNumber
 		<> help "number of concurrent node accesses per connection"
 		))
+	<*> many (strOption
+		( long "directory" <> metavar paramPath
+		<> help "serve repositories in subdirectories of a directory"
+		))
 
-seek :: Options -> CommandSeek
-seek o = getAnnexWorkerPool $ \workerpool ->
-	withP2PConnections workerpool
-		(fromMaybe 1 $ proxyConnectionsOption o)
-		(fromMaybe 1 $ clusterJobsOption o)
-		(go workerpool)
-  where
-	go workerpool servinguuids acquireconn = liftIO $ do
+startAnnex :: Options -> Annex ()
+startAnnex o
+	| null (directoryOption o) = ifM ((/=) NoUUID <$> getUUID)
+		( do
+			authenv <- liftIO getAuthEnv
+			st <- mkServerState o authenv
+			liftIO $ runServer o st
+		-- Run in a git repository that is not a git-annex repository.
+		, liftIO $ startIO o 
+		)
+	| otherwise = liftIO $ startIO o
+
+-- TODO --jobs option only available to startAnnex, not here, need
+-- to parse it into Options for this command.
+startIO :: Options -> IO ()
+startIO o
+	| null (directoryOption o) = 
+		giveup "Use the --directory option to specify which git-annex repositories to serve."
+	| otherwise = do
 		authenv <- getAuthEnv
-		st <- mkPerRepoServerState acquireconn workerpool $
-			mkGetServerMode authenv o
-		let mst = P2PHttpServerState 
-			{ servedRepos = M.fromList $
-				zip servinguuids (repeat st)
-			}
+		repos <- findRepos o
+		sts <- forM repos $ \r -> do
+			strd <- Annex.new r
+			Annex.eval strd $ mkServerState o authenv
+		runServer o (mconcat sts)
+
+runServer :: Options -> P2PHttpServerState -> IO ()
+runServer o mst = go `finally` serverShutdownCleanup mst
+  where
+	go = do
 		let settings = Warp.setPort port $ Warp.setHost host $
 			Warp.defaultSettings
 		case (certFileOption o, privateKeyFileOption o) of
@@ -125,7 +151,6 @@ seek o = getAnnexWorkerPool $ \workerpool ->
 					certfile (chainFileOption o) privatekeyfile
 				Warp.runTLS tlssettings settings (p2pHttpApp mst)
 			_ -> giveup "You must use both --certfile and --privatekeyfile options to enable HTTPS."
-	
 	port = maybe
 		(fromIntegral defaultP2PHttpProtocolPort)
 		fromIntegral
@@ -135,6 +160,14 @@ seek o = getAnnexWorkerPool $ \workerpool ->
 		fromString
 		(bindOption o)
 
+mkServerState :: Options -> M.Map Auth P2P.ServerMode -> Annex P2PHttpServerState
+mkServerState o authenv = 
+	getAnnexWorkerPool $
+		mkP2PHttpServerState
+			(mkGetServerMode authenv o)
+			(fromMaybe 1 $ proxyConnectionsOption o)
+			(fromMaybe 1 $ clusterJobsOption o)
+
 mkGetServerMode :: M.Map Auth P2P.ServerMode -> Options -> GetServerMode
 mkGetServerMode _ o _ Nothing
 	| wideOpenOption o = ServerMode
@@ -201,3 +234,11 @@ getAuthEnv = do
 		case M.lookup user permmap of
 			Nothing -> (auth, P2P.ServeReadWrite)
 			Just perms -> (auth, perms)
+
+findRepos :: Options -> IO [Git.Repo]
+findRepos o = do
+	files <- map toRawFilePath . concat
+		<$> mapM dirContents (directoryOption o)
+	map Git.Construct.newFrom . catMaybes 
+		<$> mapM Git.Construct.checkForRepo files
+
diff --git a/P2P/Http/State.hs b/P2P/Http/State.hs
index e3fabdd990..3a15b3e902 100644
--- a/P2P/Http/State.hs
+++ b/P2P/Http/State.hs
@@ -42,11 +42,28 @@ import qualified Data.Map.Strict as M
 import qualified Data.Set as S
 import Control.Concurrent.Async
 import Data.Time.Clock.POSIX
+import qualified Data.Semigroup as Sem
+import Prelude
 
 data P2PHttpServerState = P2PHttpServerState
 	{ servedRepos :: M.Map UUID PerRepoServerState
+	, serverShutdownCleanup :: IO ()
 	}
 
+instance Monoid P2PHttpServerState where
+	mempty = P2PHttpServerState
+		{ servedRepos = mempty
+		, serverShutdownCleanup = noop
+		}
+
+instance Sem.Semigroup P2PHttpServerState where
+	a <> b = P2PHttpServerState
+		{ servedRepos = servedRepos a <> servedRepos b
+		, serverShutdownCleanup = do
+			serverShutdownCleanup a
+			serverShutdownCleanup b
+		}
+
 data PerRepoServerState = PerRepoServerState
 	{ acquireP2PConnection :: AcquireP2PConnection
 	, annexWorkerPool :: AnnexWorkerPool
@@ -213,13 +230,13 @@ type AcquireP2PConnection
 	= ConnectionParams
 	-> IO (Either ConnectionProblem P2PConnectionPair)
 
-withP2PConnections
-	:: AnnexWorkerPool
+mkP2PHttpServerState
+	:: GetServerMode
 	-> ProxyConnectionPoolSize
 	-> ClusterConcurrency
-	-> ([UUID] -> AcquireP2PConnection -> Annex a)
-	-> Annex a
-withP2PConnections workerpool proxyconnectionpoolsize clusterconcurrency a = do
+	-> AnnexWorkerPool
+	-> Annex P2PHttpServerState
+mkP2PHttpServerState getservermode proxyconnectionpoolsize clusterconcurrency workerpool = do
 	enableInteractiveBranchAccess
 	myuuid <- getUUID
 	myproxies <- M.lookup myuuid <$> getProxies
@@ -233,7 +250,11 @@ withP2PConnections workerpool proxyconnectionpoolsize clusterconcurrency a = do
 		liftIO $ atomically $ putTMVar endv ()
 		liftIO $ wait asyncservicer
 	let servinguuids = myuuid : map proxyRemoteUUID (maybe [] S.toList myproxies)
-	a servinguuids (acquireconn reqv) `finally` endit
+	st <- liftIO $ mkPerRepoServerState (acquireconn reqv) workerpool getservermode
+	return $ P2PHttpServerState
+		{ servedRepos = M.fromList $ zip servinguuids (repeat st)
+		, serverShutdownCleanup = endit
+		}
   where
 	acquireconn reqv connparams = do
 		respvar <- newEmptyTMVarIO
diff --git a/doc/git-annex-p2phttp.mdwn b/doc/git-annex-p2phttp.mdwn
index 821503e533..4dd7869c92 100644
--- a/doc/git-annex-p2phttp.mdwn
+++ b/doc/git-annex-p2phttp.mdwn
@@ -41,10 +41,10 @@ convenient way to download the content of any key, by using the path
 
 * `--directory=path`
 
-  Serve each git-annex repository found in a directory. This does not
-  recurse into subdirectories. 
+  Serve each git-annex repository found in immediate 
+  subdirectories of a directory.
 
-  This option can be provided more than once to serve serveral directories
+  This option can be provided more than once to serve several directories
   full of git-annex repositories.
 
   New git-annex repositories can be added to the directory, and will be