diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index e969c4ae0c..96eb44af79 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ gem 'nsa', '~> 0.2'
 gem 'oj', '~> 3.8'
 gem 'ostatus2', '~> 2.0'
 gem 'ox', '~> 2.11'
+gem 'parslet'
 gem 'posix-spawn', git: 'https://github.com/rtomayko/posix-spawn', ref: '58465d2e213991f8afb13b984854a49fcdcc980c'
 gem 'pundit', '~> 2.0'
 gem 'premailer-rails'
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index f435b3a353..5adae6f9ce 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -404,6 +404,7 @@ GEM
       parallel
     parser (2.6.3.0)
       ast (~> 2.4.0)
+    parslet (1.8.2)
     pastel (0.7.2)
       equatable (~> 0.5.0)
       tty-color (~> 0.4.0)
@@ -724,6 +725,7 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   paperclip (~> 6.0)
   paperclip-av-transcoder (~> 0.6)
   parallel_tests (~> 2.29)
+  parslet
   pg (~> 1.1)
   pghero (~> 2.2)
   pkg-config (~> 1.3)
diff --git a/app/lib/search_query_parser.rb b/app/lib/search_query_parser.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..405ad15b89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/lib/search_query_parser.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+class SearchQueryParser < Parslet::Parser
+  rule(:term)     { match('[^\s":]').repeat(1).as(:term) }
+  rule(:quote)    { str('"') }
+  rule(:colon)    { str(':') }
+  rule(:space)    { match('\s').repeat(1) }
+  rule(:operator) { (str('+') | str('-')).as(:operator) }
+  rule(:prefix)   { (term >> colon).as(:prefix) }
+  rule(:phrase)   { (quote >> (term >> space.maybe).repeat >> quote).as(:phrase) }
+  rule(:clause)   { (prefix.maybe >> operator.maybe >> (phrase | term)).as(:clause) }
+  rule(:query)    { (clause >> space.maybe).repeat.as(:query) }
+  root(:query)
+end
diff --git a/app/lib/search_query_transformer.rb b/app/lib/search_query_transformer.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2c4144790b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/lib/search_query_transformer.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+class SearchQueryTransformer < Parslet::Transform
+  class Query
+    attr_reader :should_clauses, :must_not_clauses, :must_clauses
+
+    def initialize(clauses)
+      grouped = clauses.chunk(&:operator).to_h
+      @should_clauses = grouped.fetch(:should, [])
+      @must_not_clauses = grouped.fetch(:must_not, [])
+      @must_clauses = grouped.fetch(:must, [])
+    end
+
+    def apply(search)
+      should_clauses.each { |clause| search = search.query.should(clause_to_query(clause)) }
+      must_clauses.each { |clause| search = search.query.must(clause_to_query(clause)) }
+      must_not_clauses.each { |clause| search = search.query.must_not(clause_to_query(clause)) }
+      search.query.minimum_should_match(1)
+    end
+
+    private
+
+    def clause_to_query(clause)
+      case clause
+      when TermClause
+        { multi_match: { type: 'most_fields', query: clause.term, fields: ['text', 'text.stemmed'] } }
+      when PhraseClause
+        { match_phrase: { text: { query: clause.phrase } } }
+      else
+        raise "Unexpected clause type: #{clause}"
+      end
+    end
+  end
+
+  class Operator
+    class << self
+      def symbol(str)
+        case str
+        when '+'
+          :must
+        when '-'
+          :must_not
+        when nil
+          :should
+        else
+          raise "Unknown operator: #{str}"
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+
+  class TermClause
+    attr_reader :prefix, :operator, :term
+
+    def initialize(prefix, operator, term)
+      @prefix = prefix
+      @operator = Operator.symbol(operator)
+      @term = term
+    end
+  end
+
+  class PhraseClause
+    attr_reader :prefix, :operator, :phrase
+
+    def initialize(prefix, operator, phrase)
+      @prefix = prefix
+      @operator = Operator.symbol(operator)
+      @phrase = phrase
+    end
+  end
+
+  rule(clause: subtree(:clause)) do
+    prefix   = clause[:prefix][:term].to_s if clause[:prefix]
+    operator = clause[:operator]&.to_s
+
+    if clause[:term]
+      TermClause.new(prefix, operator, clause[:term].to_s)
+    elsif clause[:phrase]
+      PhraseClause.new(prefix, operator, clause[:phrase].map { |p| p[:term].to_s }.join(' '))
+    else
+      raise "Unexpected clause type: #{clause}"
+    end
+  end
+
+  rule(query: sequence(:clauses)) { Query.new(clauses) }
+end
diff --git a/app/services/search_service.rb b/app/services/search_service.rb
index e0da61dac5..769d1ac7a4 100644
--- a/app/services/search_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/search_service.rb
@@ -33,8 +33,7 @@ class SearchService < BaseService
   end
 
   def perform_statuses_search!
-    definition = StatusesIndex.filter(term: { searchable_by: @account.id })
-                              .query(multi_match: { type: 'most_fields', query: @query, operator: 'and', fields: %w(text text.stemmed) })
+    definition = parsed_query.apply(StatusesIndex.filter(term: { searchable_by: @account.id }))
 
     if @options[:account_id].present?
       definition = definition.filter(term: { account_id: @options[:account_id] })
@@ -70,7 +69,7 @@ class SearchService < BaseService
   end
 
   def url_query?
-    @options[:type].blank? && @query =~ /\Ahttps?:\/\//
+    @resolve && @options[:type].blank? && @query =~ /\Ahttps?:\/\//
   end
 
   def url_resource_results
@@ -120,4 +119,8 @@ class SearchService < BaseService
       domain_blocking_by_domain: Account.domain_blocking_map_by_domain(domains, account.id),
     }
   end
+
+  def parsed_query
+    SearchQueryTransformer.new.apply(SearchQueryParser.new.parse(@query))
+  end
 end
diff --git a/spec/services/search_service_spec.rb b/spec/services/search_service_spec.rb
index d064cd9b85..ade306ed28 100644
--- a/spec/services/search_service_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/services/search_service_spec.rb
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ describe SearchService, type: :service do
         it 'returns the empty results' do
           service = double(call: nil)
           allow(ResolveURLService).to receive(:new).and_return(service)
-          results = subject.call(@query, nil, 10)
+          results = subject.call(@query, nil, 10, resolve: true)
 
           expect(service).to have_received(:call).with(@query, on_behalf_of: nil)
           expect(results).to eq empty_results
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ describe SearchService, type: :service do
           service = double(call: account)
           allow(ResolveURLService).to receive(:new).and_return(service)
 
-          results = subject.call(@query, nil, 10)
+          results = subject.call(@query, nil, 10, resolve: true)
           expect(service).to have_received(:call).with(@query, on_behalf_of: nil)
           expect(results).to eq empty_results.merge(accounts: [account])
         end
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ describe SearchService, type: :service do
           service = double(call: status)
           allow(ResolveURLService).to receive(:new).and_return(service)
 
-          results = subject.call(@query, nil, 10)
+          results = subject.call(@query, nil, 10, resolve: true)
           expect(service).to have_received(:call).with(@query, on_behalf_of: nil)
           expect(results).to eq empty_results.merge(statuses: [status])
         end