diff --git a/.mypy.ini b/.mypy.ini
index 81a5c2e7..ee7a9ad1 100644
--- a/.mypy.ini
+++ b/.mypy.ini
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 [mypy]
+plugins = sqlalchemy.ext.mypy.plugin
 
 [mypy-icu.*]
 ignore_missing_imports = True
 
-[mypy-osmium.*]
+[mypy-asyncpg.*]
 ignore_missing_imports = True
 
 [mypy-datrie.*]
diff --git a/nominatim/api.py b/nominatim/api.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..60165d33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nominatim/api.py
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only
+#
+# This file is part of Nominatim. (https://nominatim.org)
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2022 by the Nominatim developer community.
+# For a full list of authors see the git log.
+"""
+Implementation of classes for API access via libraries.
+"""
+from typing import Mapping, Optional, TypeVar, Callable, Any
+import functools
+import asyncio
+from pathlib import Path
+
+from sqlalchemy.engine.url import URL
+from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import create_async_engine
+
+from nominatim.typing import StrPath
+from nominatim.config import Configuration
+from nominatim.apicmd.status import get_status, StatusResult
+
+class NominatimAPIAsync:
+    """ API loader asynchornous version.
+    """
+    def __init__(self, project_dir: Path,
+                 environ: Optional[Mapping[str, str]] = None) -> None:
+        self.config = Configuration(project_dir, environ)
+
+        dsn = self.config.get_database_params()
+
+        dburl = URL.create(
+                   'postgresql+asyncpg',
+                   database=dsn.get('dbname'),
+                   username=dsn.get('user'), password=dsn.get('password'),
+                   host=dsn.get('host'), port=int(dsn['port']) if 'port' in dsn else None,
+                   query={k: v for k, v in dsn.items()
+                          if k not in ('user', 'password', 'dbname', 'host', 'port')})
+        self.engine = create_async_engine(dburl,
+                                          connect_args={"server_settings": {"jit": "off"}},
+                                          future=True)
+
+
+    async def status(self) -> StatusResult:
+        """ Return the status of the database.
+        """
+        return await get_status(self.engine)
+
+
+class NominatimAPI:
+    """ API loader, synchronous version.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, project_dir: Path,
+                 environ: Optional[Mapping[str, str]] = None) -> None:
+        self.async_api = NominatimAPIAsync(project_dir, environ)
+
+
+    def status(self) -> StatusResult:
+        return asyncio.get_event_loop().run_until_complete(self.async_api.status())
diff --git a/nominatim/apicmd/__init__.py b/nominatim/apicmd/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/nominatim/apicmd/status.py b/nominatim/apicmd/status.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..628b6ce9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nominatim/apicmd/status.py
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only
+#
+# This file is part of Nominatim. (https://nominatim.org)
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2022 by the Nominatim developer community.
+# For a full list of authors see the git log.
+"""
+Classes and function releated to status call.
+"""
+from typing import Optional, cast
+import datetime as dt
+
+import sqlalchemy as sqla
+from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio.engine import AsyncEngine, AsyncConnection
+import asyncpg
+
+from nominatim import version
+
+class StatusResult:
+    """ Result of a call to the status API.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, status: int, msg: str):
+        self.status = status
+        self.message = msg
+        # XXX versions really should stay tuples here
+        self.software_version = version.version_str()
+        self.data_updated: Optional[dt.datetime]  = None
+        self.database_version: Optional[str] = None
+
+
+async def _get_database_date(conn: AsyncConnection) -> Optional[dt.datetime]:
+    """ Query the database date.
+    """
+    sql = sqla.text('SELECT lastimportdate FROM import_status LIMIT 1')
+    result = await conn.execute(sql)
+
+    for row in result:
+        return cast(dt.datetime, row[0])
+
+    return None
+
+
+async def _get_database_version(conn: AsyncConnection) -> Optional[str]:
+    sql = sqla.text("""SELECT value FROM nominatim_properties
+                       WHERE property = 'database_version'""")
+    result = await conn.execute(sql)
+
+    for row in result:
+        return cast(str, row[0])
+
+    return None
+
+
+async def get_status(engine: AsyncEngine) -> StatusResult:
+    """ Execute a status API call.
+    """
+    status = StatusResult(0, 'OK')
+    try:
+        async with engine.begin() as conn:
+            status.data_updated = await _get_database_date(conn)
+            status.database_version = await _get_database_version(conn)
+    except asyncpg.PostgresError as err:
+        return StatusResult(700, str(err))
+
+    return status
diff --git a/nominatim/clicmd/api.py b/nominatim/clicmd/api.py
index b899afad..9a4828b8 100644
--- a/nominatim/clicmd/api.py
+++ b/nominatim/clicmd/api.py
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ import logging
 from nominatim.tools.exec_utils import run_api_script
 from nominatim.errors import UsageError
 from nominatim.clicmd.args import NominatimArgs
+from nominatim.api import NominatimAPI
+from nominatim.apicmd.status import StatusResult
+import nominatim.result_formatter.v1 as formatting
 
 # Do not repeat documentation of subcommand classes.
 # pylint: disable=C0111
@@ -264,7 +267,7 @@ class APIDetails:
 
 
 class APIStatus:
-    """\
+    """
     Execute API status query.
 
     This command works exactly the same as if calling the /status endpoint on
@@ -274,10 +277,13 @@ class APIStatus:
     """
 
     def add_args(self, parser: argparse.ArgumentParser) -> None:
+        formats = formatting.create(StatusResult).list_formats()
         group = parser.add_argument_group('API parameters')
-        group.add_argument('--format', default='text', choices=['text', 'json'],
+        group.add_argument('--format', default=formats[0], choices=formats,
                            help='Format of result')
 
 
     def run(self, args: NominatimArgs) -> int:
-        return _run_api('status', args, dict(format=args.format))
+        status = NominatimAPI(args.project_dir).status()
+        print(formatting.create(StatusResult).format(status, args.format))
+        return 0
diff --git a/nominatim/config.py b/nominatim/config.py
index e0f19b04..3a4c3a6b 100644
--- a/nominatim/config.py
+++ b/nominatim/config.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import json
 import yaml
 
 from dotenv import dotenv_values
+from psycopg2.extensions import parse_dsn
 
 from nominatim.typing import StrPath
 from nominatim.errors import UsageError
@@ -51,7 +52,7 @@ class Configuration:
         Nominatim uses dotenv to configure the software. Configuration options
         are resolved in the following order:
 
-         * from the OS environment (or the dirctionary given in `environ`
+         * from the OS environment (or the dictionary given in `environ`)
          * from the .env file in the project directory of the installation
          * from the default installation in the configuration directory
 
@@ -164,6 +165,18 @@ class Configuration:
         return dsn
 
 
+    def get_database_params(self) -> Mapping[str, str]:
+        """ Get the configured parameters for the database connection
+            as a mapping.
+        """
+        dsn = self.DATABASE_DSN
+
+        if dsn.startswith('pgsql:'):
+            return dict((p.split('=', 1) for p in dsn[6:].split(';')))
+
+        return parse_dsn(dsn)
+
+
     def get_import_style_file(self) -> Path:
         """ Return the import style file as a path object. Translates the
             name of the standard styles automatically into a file in the
diff --git a/nominatim/result_formatter/__init__.py b/nominatim/result_formatter/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/nominatim/result_formatter/base.py b/nominatim/result_formatter/base.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..88f4d918
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nominatim/result_formatter/base.py
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only
+#
+# This file is part of Nominatim. (https://nominatim.org)
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2022 by the Nominatim developer community.
+# For a full list of authors see the git log.
+"""
+Helper classes and function for writing result formatting modules.
+"""
+from typing import Type, TypeVar, Dict, Mapping, List, Callable, Generic, Any
+from collections import defaultdict
+
+T = TypeVar('T') # pylint: disable=invalid-name
+FormatFunc = Callable[[T], str]
+
+class ResultFormatter(Generic[T]):
+    """ This class dispatches format calls to the appropriate formatting
+        function previously defined with the `format_func` decorator.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, funcs: Mapping[str, FormatFunc[T]]) -> None:
+        self.functions = funcs
+
+
+    def list_formats(self) -> List[str]:
+        """ Return a list of formats supported by this formatter.
+        """
+        return list(self.functions.keys())
+
+
+    def format(self, result: T, fmt: str) -> str:
+        """ Convert the given result into a string using the given format.
+
+            The format is expected to be in the list returned by
+            `list_formats()`.
+        """
+        return self.functions[fmt](result)
+
+
+class FormatDispatcher:
+    """ A factory class for result formatters.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self) -> None:
+        self.format_functions: Dict[Type[Any], Dict[str, FormatFunc[Any]]] = defaultdict(dict)
+
+
+    def format_func(self, result_class: Type[T],
+                    fmt: str) -> Callable[[FormatFunc[T]], FormatFunc[T]]:
+        """ Decorator for a function that formats a given type of result into the
+            selected format.
+        """
+        def decorator(func: FormatFunc[T]) -> FormatFunc[T]:
+            self.format_functions[result_class][fmt] = func
+            return func
+
+        return decorator
+
+
+    def __call__(self, result_class: Type[T]) -> ResultFormatter[T]:
+        """ Create an instance of a format class for the given result type.
+        """
+        return ResultFormatter(self.format_functions[result_class])
diff --git a/nominatim/result_formatter/v1.py b/nominatim/result_formatter/v1.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d14e3f6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nominatim/result_formatter/v1.py
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only
+#
+# This file is part of Nominatim. (https://nominatim.org)
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2022 by the Nominatim developer community.
+# For a full list of authors see the git log.
+"""
+Output formatters for API version v1.
+"""
+from typing import Dict, Any
+from collections import OrderedDict
+import json
+
+from nominatim.result_formatter.base import FormatDispatcher
+from nominatim.apicmd.status import StatusResult
+
+create = FormatDispatcher()
+
+@create.format_func(StatusResult, 'text')
+def _format_status_text(result: StatusResult) -> str:
+    return result.message
+
+
+@create.format_func(StatusResult, 'json')
+def _format_status_json(result: StatusResult) -> str:
+    # XXX write a simple JSON serializer
+    out: Dict[str, Any] = OrderedDict()
+    out['status'] = result.status
+    out['message'] = result.message
+    if result.data_updated is not None:
+        out['data_updated'] = result.data_updated
+    out['software_version'] = result.software_version
+    if result.database_version is not None:
+        out['database_version'] = result.database_version
+
+    return json.dumps(out)