diff --git a/osxphotos/cli/add_locations.py b/osxphotos/cli/add_locations.py
index 6069ceed..f6f0a819 100644
--- a/osxphotos/cli/add_locations.py
+++ b/osxphotos/cli/add_locations.py
@@ -135,8 +135,6 @@ def add_locations(
 
     verbose("Searching for photos with missing location data...")
 
-    # load photos database
-    photosdb = osxphotos.PhotosDB(verbose=verbose)
     try:
         query_options = query_options_from_kwargs(**kwargs)
     except IncompatibleQueryOptions as e:
@@ -144,6 +142,7 @@ def add_locations(
         echo_error(ctx.obj.group.commands["repl"].get_help(ctx))
         ctx.exit(1)
 
+    photosdb = osxphotos.PhotosDB(verbose=verbose)
     photos = photosdb.query(query_options)
 
     # sort photos by date
diff --git a/osxphotos/cli/cli_commands.py b/osxphotos/cli/cli_commands.py
index 0d8770d1..26a73bb3 100644
--- a/osxphotos/cli/cli_commands.py
+++ b/osxphotos/cli/cli_commands.py
@@ -59,9 +59,9 @@ def config_verbose_callback(ctx: click.Context, param: click.Parameter, value: t
 
 def get_photos_for_query(ctx: click.Context):
     """Return list of PhotoInfo objects for the photos matching the query options in ctx.params"""
+    options = query_options_from_kwargs(**ctx.params)
     db = ctx.params.get("db")
     photosdb = PhotosDB(dbfile=db, verbose=verbose)
-    options = query_options_from_kwargs(**ctx.params)
     return photosdb.query(options=options)
 
 
diff --git a/osxphotos/cli/cli_params.py b/osxphotos/cli/cli_params.py
index a0028023..1ac544bd 100644
--- a/osxphotos/cli/cli_params.py
+++ b/osxphotos/cli/cli_params.py
@@ -196,8 +196,9 @@ _QUERY_PARAMETERS_DICT = {
         default=None,
         multiple=False,
         help="Search for photos with UUID(s) loaded from FILE. "
-        "Format is a single UUID per line.  Lines preceded with # are ignored.",
-        type=click.Path(exists=True),
+        "Format is a single UUID per line. Lines preceded with # are ignored. "
+        "If FILE is '-', read UUIDs from stdin.",
+        type=PathOrStdin(exists=True),
     ),
     "--title": click.Option(
         ["--title"],
diff --git a/osxphotos/cli/debug_dump.py b/osxphotos/cli/debug_dump.py
index 1908ac10..2b1c12b8 100644
--- a/osxphotos/cli/debug_dump.py
+++ b/osxphotos/cli/debug_dump.py
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ def debug_dump(
         _list_libraries()
         return
 
+    query_options = query_options_from_kwargs(**kwargs)
+
     start_t = time.perf_counter()
     print(f"Opening database: {db}")
     photosdb = osxphotos.PhotosDB(dbfile=db, verbose=verbose)
@@ -90,7 +92,6 @@ def debug_dump(
             print("_dbpersons_fullname:")
             pprint.pprint(photosdb._dbpersons_fullname)
         elif attr == "photos":
-            query_options = query_options_from_kwargs(**kwargs)
             photos = photosdb.query(options=query_options)
             uuid = [photo.uuid for photo in photos]
             for uuid_ in uuid:
diff --git a/osxphotos/cli/export.py b/osxphotos/cli/export.py
index 1f35d722..f21b0e88 100644
--- a/osxphotos/cli/export.py
+++ b/osxphotos/cli/export.py
@@ -1336,13 +1336,6 @@ def export(
     # save config to export_db
     export_db.set_config(cfg.write_to_str())
 
-    photosdb = osxphotos.PhotosDB(
-        dbfile=db, verbose=verbose, exiftool=exiftool_path, rich=True
-    )
-
-    # enable beta features if requested
-    photosdb._beta = beta
-
     query_kwargs = locals()
     # skip missing bursts if using --download-missing by itself as AppleScript otherwise causes errors
     query_kwargs["missing_bursts"] = (
@@ -1350,6 +1343,14 @@ def export(
     )
     query_kwargs["burst_photos"] = export_bursts
     query_options = query_options_from_kwargs(**query_kwargs)
+
+    photosdb = osxphotos.PhotosDB(
+        dbfile=db, verbose=verbose, exiftool=exiftool_path, rich=True
+    )
+
+    # enable beta features if requested
+    photosdb._beta = beta
+
     try:
         photos = photosdb.query(query_options)
     except ValueError as e:
diff --git a/osxphotos/cli/param_types.py b/osxphotos/cli/param_types.py
index c95b85c1..56daf658 100644
--- a/osxphotos/cli/param_types.py
+++ b/osxphotos/cli/param_types.py
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ __all__ = [
     "DeprecatedPath",
     "ExportDBType",
     "FunctionCall",
+    "PathOrStdin",
     "StrpDateTimePattern",
     "TemplateString",
     "TimeISO8601",
@@ -52,6 +53,18 @@ class DeprecatedPath(click.Path):
         return super().convert(value, param, ctx)
 
 
+class PathOrStdin(click.Path):
+    """A click.Path or "-" to represent STDIN."""
+
+    name = "PATH_OR_STDIN"
+
+    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+
+    def convert(self, value, param, ctx):
+        return value if value == "-" else super().convert(value, param, ctx)
+
+
 class DateTimeISO8601(click.ParamType):
 
     name = "DATETIME"
diff --git a/osxphotos/cli/query.py b/osxphotos/cli/query.py
index a719fdf2..d64e0d36 100644
--- a/osxphotos/cli/query.py
+++ b/osxphotos/cli/query.py
@@ -102,12 +102,13 @@ def query(
         _list_libraries()
         return
 
-    photosdb = osxphotos.PhotosDB(dbfile=db)
     try:
         query_options = query_options_from_kwargs(**kwargs)
     except Exception as e:
         raise click.BadOptionUsage("query", str(e)) from e
 
+    photosdb = osxphotos.PhotosDB(dbfile=db)
+
     try:
         photos = photosdb.query(query_options)
     except ValueError as e:
diff --git a/osxphotos/cli/sync.py b/osxphotos/cli/sync.py
index c98ed993..c32355b3 100644
--- a/osxphotos/cli/sync.py
+++ b/osxphotos/cli/sync.py
@@ -763,7 +763,7 @@ def sync(
         print_import_summary(results)
 
     if export_path:
-        photosdb = PhotosDB(dbfile=db, verbose=verbose)
         query_options = query_options_from_kwargs(**kwargs)
+        photosdb = PhotosDB(dbfile=db, verbose=verbose)
         photos = photosdb.query(query_options)
         export_metadata(photos, export_path, verbose)
diff --git a/osxphotos/queryoptions.py b/osxphotos/queryoptions.py
index 830cc685..3670cc59 100644
--- a/osxphotos/queryoptions.py
+++ b/osxphotos/queryoptions.py
@@ -2,12 +2,14 @@
 
 import dataclasses
 import datetime
+import io
 import pathlib
+import re
+import sys
 from dataclasses import asdict, dataclass
 from typing import Iterable, List, Optional, Tuple
 
 import bitmath
-import click
 
 __all__ = ["QueryOptions", "query_options_from_kwargs", "IncompatibleQueryOptions"]
 
@@ -194,7 +196,12 @@ class QueryOptions:
 
 
 def query_options_from_kwargs(**kwargs) -> QueryOptions:
-    """Validate query options and create a QueryOptions instance"""
+    """ Validate query options and create a QueryOptions instance. 
+        Note: this will block on stdin if uuid_from_file is set to "-"
+        so it is best to call function before creating the PhotosDB instance
+        so that the validation of query options can happen before the database
+        is loaded. 
+   """
     # sanity check input args
     nonexclusive = [
         "added_after",
@@ -294,10 +301,12 @@ def query_options_from_kwargs(**kwargs) -> QueryOptions:
     return QueryOptions(**query_dict)
 
 
-def load_uuid_from_file(filename):
-    """Load UUIDs from file.  Does not validate UUIDs.
-        Format is 1 UUID per line, any line beginning with # is ignored.
-        Whitespace is stripped.
+def load_uuid_from_file(filename: str) ->list[str]:
+    """
+    Load UUIDs from file. 
+    Does not validate UUIDs but does validate that the UUIDs are in the correct format.
+    Format is 1 UUID per line, any line beginning with # is ignored.
+    Whitespace is stripped.
 
     Arguments:
         filename: file name of the file containing UUIDs
@@ -307,15 +316,44 @@ def load_uuid_from_file(filename):
 
     Raises:
         FileNotFoundError if file does not exist
+        ValueError if UUID is not in correct format
     """
 
+    if filename == "-":
+        return _load_uuid_from_stream(sys.stdin)
+
     if not pathlib.Path(filename).is_file():
         raise FileNotFoundError(f"Could not find file {filename}")
 
+    with open(filename, "r") as f:
+        return _load_uuid_from_stream(f)
+
+def _load_uuid_from_stream(stream: io.IOBase) -> list[str]:
+    """
+    Load UUIDs from stream.
+    Does not validate UUIDs but does validate that the UUIDs are in the correct format.
+    Format is 1 UUID per line, any line beginning with # is ignored.
+    Whitespace is stripped.
+
+    Arguments:
+        filename: file name of the file containing UUIDs
+
+    Returns:
+        list of UUIDs or empty list of no UUIDs in file
+
+    Raises:
+        ValueError if UUID is not in correct format
+    """
+
     uuid = []
-    with open(filename, "r") as uuid_file:
-        for line in uuid_file:
-            line = line.strip()
-            if len(line) and line[0] != "#":
-                uuid.append(line)
+    for line in stream:
+        line = line.strip()
+        if len(line) and line[0] != "#":
+            if not re.match(
+                r"^[0-9a-fA-F]{8}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{12}$",
+                line,
+            ):
+                raise ValueError(f"Invalid UUID: {line}")
+            line = line.upper()
+            uuid.append(line)
     return uuid
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
index 9c38b065..c2fafba7 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -1176,6 +1176,25 @@ def test_query_uuid_from_file_1():
     assert sorted(UUID_EXPECTED_FROM_FILE) == sorted(uuid_got)
 
 
+def test_query_uuid_from_file_stdin():
+    """Test query with --uuid-from-file reading from stdin"""
+
+    runner = CliRunner()
+    cwd = os.getcwd()
+    input_text = open(UUID_FILE, "r").read()
+    result = runner.invoke(
+        query,
+        ["--json", "--db", os.path.join(cwd, PHOTOS_DB_15_7), "--uuid-from-file", "-"],
+        input=input_text,
+    )
+    assert result.exit_code == 0
+
+    # build list of uuids we got from the output JSON
+    json_got = json.loads(result.output)
+    uuid_got = [photo["uuid"] for photo in json_got]
+    assert sorted(UUID_EXPECTED_FROM_FILE) == sorted(uuid_got)
+
+
 def test_query_has_comment():
     """Test query with --has-comment"""
 
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 6566dd7e..5adb7655 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 # pyenv local osxphotos-3.9.5 3.10.0rc1 3.8.12 3.7.11
 
 [tox]
-envlist = py37, py38, py39, py310
+envlist = py39, py310, py311
 
 [testenv]
 deps =