diff --git a/swh/model/cli.py b/swh/model/cli.py
--- a/swh/model/cli.py
+++ b/swh/model/cli.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright (C) 2018  The Software Heritage developers
+# Copyright (C) 2018-2019  The Software Heritage developers
 # See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 import sys
 
 from functools import partial
+from urllib.parse import urlparse
 
 from swh.model import identifiers as pids
 from swh.model.exceptions import ValidationError
@@ -38,25 +39,40 @@
     return pids.persistent_identifier(pids.DIRECTORY, object)
 
 
+def pid_of_origin(url):
+    pid = pids.PersistentId(object_type='origin',
+                            object_id=pids.origin_identifier({'url': url}))
+    return str(pid)
+
+
 def identify_object(obj_type, follow_symlinks, obj):
     if obj_type == 'auto':
         if os.path.isfile(obj):
             obj_type = 'content'
         elif os.path.isdir(obj):
             obj_type = 'directory'
-        else:  # shouldn't happen, due to path validation
-            raise click.BadParameter('%s is neither a file nor a directory' %
-                                     obj)
-
-    path = obj
-    if follow_symlinks and os.path.islink(obj):
-        path = os.path.realpath(obj)
+        else:
+            try:  # URL parsing
+                if urlparse(obj).scheme:
+                    obj_type = 'origin'
+                else:
+                    raise ValueError
+            except ValueError:
+                raise click.BadParameter('cannot detect object type for %s' %
+                                         obj)
 
     pid = None
-    if obj_type == 'content':
-        pid = pid_of_file(path)
-    elif obj_type == 'directory':
-        pid = pid_of_dir(path)
+
+    if obj_type in ['content', 'directory']:
+        path = obj.encode(sys.getfilesystemencoding())
+        if follow_symlinks and os.path.islink(obj):
+            path = os.path.realpath(obj)
+        if obj_type == 'content':
+            pid = pid_of_file(path)
+        elif obj_type == 'directory':
+            pid = pid_of_dir(path)
+    elif obj_type == 'origin':
+        pid = pid_of_origin(obj)
     else:  # shouldn't happen, due to option validation
         raise click.BadParameter('invalid object type: ' + obj_type)
 
@@ -73,13 +89,11 @@
 @click.option('--filename/--no-filename', 'show_filename', default=True,
               help='show/hide file name (default: show)')
 @click.option('--type', '-t', 'obj_type', default='auto',
-              type=click.Choice(['auto', 'content', 'directory']),
+              type=click.Choice(['auto', 'content', 'directory', 'origin']),
               help='type of object to identify (default: auto)')
 @click.option('--verify', '-v', metavar='PID', type=PidParamType(),
               help='reference identifier to be compared with computed one')
-@click.argument('objects', nargs=-1, required=True,
-                type=click.Path(exists=True, readable=True,
-                                allow_dash=True, path_type=bytes))
+@click.argument('objects', nargs=-1, required=True)
 def identify(obj_type, verify, show_filename, follow_symlinks, objects):
     """Compute the Software Heritage persistent identifier (PID) for the given
     source code object(s).
diff --git a/swh/model/tests/test_cli.py b/swh/model/tests/test_cli.py
--- a/swh/model/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/swh/model/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -45,6 +45,13 @@
         self.assertPidOK(result,
                          'swh:1:dir:e8b0f1466af8608c8a3fb9879db172b887e80759')
 
+    def test_origin_id(self):
+        """identify an origin URL"""
+        url = 'https://github.com/torvalds/linux'
+        result = self.runner.invoke(cli.identify, ['--type', 'origin', url])
+        self.assertPidOK(result,
+                         'swh:1:ori:b63a575fe3faab7692c9f38fb09d4bb45651bb0f')
+
     def test_symlink(self):
         """identify symlink --- both itself and target"""
         regular = os.path.join(self.tmpdir_name, b'foo.txt')
@@ -84,18 +91,27 @@
             self.assertPidOK(result,
                              'swh:1:cnt:' + hash_to_hex(content['sha1_git']))
 
-    def test_auto_id(self):
-        """automatic object type: file or directory, depending on argument"""
+    def test_auto_content(self):
+        """automatic object type detection: content"""
         with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(prefix='swh.model.cli') as f:
             result = self.runner.invoke(cli.identify, [f.name])
             self.assertEqual(result.exit_code, 0)
             self.assertRegex(result.output, r'^swh:\d+:cnt:')
 
+    def test_auto_directory(self):
+        """automatic object type detection: directory"""
         with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory(prefix='swh.model.cli') as dirname:
             result = self.runner.invoke(cli.identify, [dirname])
             self.assertEqual(result.exit_code, 0)
             self.assertRegex(result.output, r'^swh:\d+:dir:')
 
+    def test_auto_origin(self):
+        """automatic object type detection: origin"""
+        result = self.runner.invoke(cli.identify,
+                                    ['https://github.com/torvalds/linux'])
+        self.assertEqual(result.exit_code, 0)
+        self.assertRegex(result.output, r'^swh:\d+:ori:')
+
     def test_verify_content(self):
         """identifier verification"""
         self.make_contents(self.tmpdir_name)