diff --git a/src/main/scala/de/upb/cs/swt/delphi/cli/Config.scala b/src/main/scala/de/upb/cs/swt/delphi/cli/Config.scala
index 47f75c5..cc5b016 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/de/upb/cs/swt/delphi/cli/Config.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/de/upb/cs/swt/delphi/cli/Config.scala
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ case class Config(server: String = sys.env.getOrElse("DELPHI_SERVER", "https://d
                   query : String = "",
                   limit : Option[Int] = None,
                   id : String = "",
+                  timeout : Option[Int] = None,
                   args: List[String] = List(),
                   opts: List[String] = List()) {
 
diff --git a/src/main/scala/de/upb/cs/swt/delphi/cli/DelphiCLI.scala b/src/main/scala/de/upb/cs/swt/delphi/cli/DelphiCLI.scala
index 64e4d14..1c5be43 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/de/upb/cs/swt/delphi/cli/DelphiCLI.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/de/upb/cs/swt/delphi/cli/DelphiCLI.scala
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ package de.upb.cs.swt.delphi.cli
 
 import akka.actor.ActorSystem
 import akka.http.scaladsl.Http
-import akka.stream.ActorMaterializer
 import de.upb.cs.swt.delphi.cli.commands.{RetrieveCommand, SearchCommand, TestCommand}
 
 import scala.concurrent.duration.Duration
@@ -53,18 +52,19 @@ object DelphiCLI extends App {
         .text("Retrieve a project's description, specified by ID.")
         .children(
           arg[String]("id").action((x, c) => c.copy(id = x)).text("The ID of the project to retrieve"),
+          opt[String]("csv").action((x, c) => c.copy(csv = x)).text("Path to the output .csv file (overwrites existing file)"),
           opt[Unit]('f', "file").action((_, c) => c.copy(opts = List("file"))).text("Use to load the ID from file, " +
-            "with the filepath given in place of the ID"),
-          opt[String]("csv").action((x, c) => c.copy(csv = x)).text("Path to the output .csv file (overwrites existing file)")
+            "with the filepath given in place of the ID")
         )
 
       cmd("search").action((s, c) => c.copy(mode = "search"))
         .text("Search artifact using a query.")
         .children(
           arg[String]("query").action((x,c) => c.copy(query = x)).text("The query to be used."),
+          opt[String]("csv").action((x, c) => c.copy(csv = x)).text("Path to the output .csv file (overwrites existing file)"),
           opt[Int]("limit").action((x, c) => c.copy(limit = Some(x))).text("The maximal number of results returned."),
           opt[Unit](name="list").action((_, c) => c.copy(list = true)).text("Output results as list (raw option overrides this)"),
-          opt[String]("csv").action((x, c) => c.copy(csv = x)).text("Path to the output .csv file (overwrites existing file)")
+          opt[Int]("timeout").action((x, c) => c.copy(timeout = Some(x))).text("Timeout in seconds.")
         )
     }
   }
diff --git a/src/main/scala/de/upb/cs/swt/delphi/cli/commands/SearchCommand.scala b/src/main/scala/de/upb/cs/swt/delphi/cli/commands/SearchCommand.scala
index 55aed07..24b6683 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/de/upb/cs/swt/delphi/cli/commands/SearchCommand.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/de/upb/cs/swt/delphi/cli/commands/SearchCommand.scala
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 
 package de.upb.cs.swt.delphi.cli.commands
 
-import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit
+import java.util.concurrent.{TimeUnit, TimeoutException}
 
 import akka.actor.ActorSystem
 import akka.http.scaladsl.Http
@@ -29,14 +29,16 @@ import akka.util.ByteString
 import de.upb.cs.swt.delphi.cli.Config
 import de.upb.cs.swt.delphi.cli.artifacts.SearchResult
 import de.upb.cs.swt.delphi.cli.artifacts.SearchResultJson._
-import de.upb.cs.swt.delphi.cli.commands.RetrieveCommand.information
 import spray.json.DefaultJsonProtocol
 
 import scala.concurrent.duration._
-import scala.concurrent.{Await, Future}
-import scala.util.{Failure, Success}
+import scala.concurrent.{Await, ExecutionContextExecutor, Future}
+import scala.util.{Failure, Success, Try}
 
 object SearchCommand extends Command with SprayJsonSupport with DefaultJsonProtocol {
+
+  val searchTimeout: Int = 10
+
   /**
     * Executes the command implementation
     *
@@ -59,7 +61,20 @@ object SearchCommand extends Command with SprayJsonSupport with DefaultJsonProto
       Http().singleRequest(HttpRequest(uri = searchUri, method = HttpMethods.POST, entity = entity))
     }
 
-    val response = Await.result(responseFuture, 10 seconds)
+    Try(Await.result(responseFuture, Duration(config.timeout.getOrElse(searchTimeout) + " seconds"))).
+      map(response => parseResponse(response, config, start)(ec, materializer)).
+      recover {
+        case e : TimeoutException => {
+          error(config)("The query timed out after " + (System.nanoTime() - start).nanos.toUnit(TimeUnit.SECONDS) +
+            " seconds. To set a longer timeout, use the --timeout option.")
+          Failure(e)
+        }
+      }
+  }
+
+  private def parseResponse(response: HttpResponse, config: Config, start: Long)
+                           (implicit ec: ExecutionContextExecutor, materializer: ActorMaterializer): Unit = {
+
     val resultFuture: Future[String] = response match {
       case HttpResponse(StatusCodes.OK, headers, entity, _) =>
         entity.dataBytes.runFold(ByteString(""))(_ ++ _).map { body =>