diff --git a/src/vs/platform/search/common/search.ts b/src/vs/platform/search/common/search.ts
index bb2a8df08e4..bdd1918a876 100644
--- a/src/vs/platform/search/common/search.ts
+++ b/src/vs/platform/search/common/search.ts
@@ -44,6 +44,12 @@ export interface ICommonQueryOptions {
 	filePattern?: string; // file search only
 	fileEncoding?: string;
 	maxResults?: number;
+	/**
+	 * If true no results will be returned. Instead `limitHit` will indicate if at least one result exists or not.
+	 *
+	 * Currently does not work with queries including a 'siblings clause'.
+	 */
+	exists?: boolean;
 	sortByScore?: boolean;
 	cacheKey?: string;
 	useRipgrep?: boolean;
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/node/extensionHostMain.ts b/src/vs/workbench/node/extensionHostMain.ts
index cda0a718027..a28fb2b6a9b 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/node/extensionHostMain.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/node/extensionHostMain.ts
@@ -232,13 +232,13 @@ export class ExtensionHostMain {
 		const query: ISearchQuery = {
 			folderQueries,
 			type: QueryType.File,
-			maxResults: 1,
+			exists: true,
 			includePattern: includes,
 			useRipgrep
 		};
 
 		let result = await this._diskSearch.search(query);
-		if (result.results.length > 0) {
+		if (result.limitHit) {
 			// a file was found matching one of the glob patterns
 			return (
 				this._extensionService.activateById(extensionId, true)
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/fileSearch.ts b/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/fileSearch.ts
index ff457516718..02e7c5e570c 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/fileSearch.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/fileSearch.ts
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ export class FileWalker {
 	private normalizedFilePatternLowercase: string;
 	private includePattern: glob.ParsedExpression;
 	private maxResults: number;
+	private exists: boolean;
 	private maxFilesize: number;
 	private isLimitHit: boolean;
 	private resultCount: number;
@@ -77,6 +78,7 @@ export class FileWalker {
 		this.filePattern = config.filePattern;
 		this.includePattern = config.includePattern && glob.parse(config.includePattern);
 		this.maxResults = config.maxResults || null;
+		this.exists = config.exists;
 		this.maxFilesize = config.maxFilesize || null;
 		this.walkedPaths = Object.create(null);
 		this.resultCount = 0;
@@ -234,6 +236,7 @@ export class FileWalker {
 				return;
 			}
 			if (this.isLimitHit) {
+				done();
 				return;
 			}
 
@@ -392,9 +395,12 @@ export class FileWalker {
 
 		cmd.on('close', (code: number) => {
 			// ripgrep returns code=1 when no results are found
-			if (code !== 0 && ((isRipgrep && stderr.length) || !isRipgrep)) {
+			if (code !== 0 && (!isRipgrep || code !== 1)) {
 				done(new Error(`command failed with error code ${code}: ${this.decodeData(stderr, encoding)}`));
 			} else {
+				if (isRipgrep && this.exists && code === 0) {
+					this.isLimitHit = true;
+				}
 				done(null, '', true);
 			}
 		});
@@ -657,7 +663,7 @@ export class FileWalker {
 		if (this.isFilePatternMatch(candidate.relativePath) && (!this.includePattern || this.includePattern(candidate.relativePath, candidate.basename))) {
 			this.resultCount++;
 
-			if (this.maxResults && this.resultCount > this.maxResults) {
+			if (this.exists || (this.maxResults && this.resultCount > this.maxResults)) {
 				this.isLimitHit = true;
 			}
 
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/ripgrepFileSearch.ts b/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/ripgrepFileSearch.ts
index 7b4b508b4e4..caba0ebd233 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/ripgrepFileSearch.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/ripgrepFileSearch.ts
@@ -44,6 +44,10 @@ function getRgArgs(config: IRawSearch, folderQuery: IFolderSearch, includePatter
 	// Follow symlinks
 	args.push('--follow');
 
+	if (config.exists) {
+		args.push('--quiet');
+	}
+
 	// Folder to search
 	args.push('--');
 
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/search.ts b/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/search.ts
index 424b3b4f0f7..38c3be3415c 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/search.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/search.ts
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ export interface IRawSearch {
 	includePattern?: IExpression;
 	contentPattern?: IPatternInfo;
 	maxResults?: number;
+	exists?: boolean;
 	sortByScore?: boolean;
 	cacheKey?: string;
 	maxFilesize?: number;
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/searchService.ts b/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/searchService.ts
index b7adc8e63a9..85c20bd1f10 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/searchService.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/services/search/node/searchService.ts
@@ -266,6 +266,7 @@ export class DiskSearch implements ISearchResultProvider {
 			excludePattern: query.excludePattern,
 			includePattern: query.includePattern,
 			maxResults: query.maxResults,
+			exists: query.exists,
 			sortByScore: query.sortByScore,
 			cacheKey: query.cacheKey,
 			useRipgrep: query.useRipgrep,
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/services/search/test/node/search.test.ts b/src/vs/workbench/services/search/test/node/search.test.ts
index abecd589774..f7fbebd6835 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/services/search/test/node/search.test.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/services/search/test/node/search.test.ts
@@ -84,6 +84,88 @@ suite('FileSearchEngine', () => {
 		});
 	});
 
+	test('Files: exists', function (done: () => void) {
+		let engine = new FileSearchEngine({
+			folderQueries: ROOT_FOLDER_QUERY,
+			includePattern: { '**/file.txt': true },
+			exists: true
+		});
+
+		let count = 0;
+		engine.search((result) => {
+			if (result) {
+				count++;
+			}
+		}, () => { }, (error, complete) => {
+			assert.ok(!error);
+			assert.equal(count, 0);
+			assert.ok(complete.limitHit);
+			done();
+		});
+	});
+
+	test('Files: not exists', function (done: () => void) {
+		let engine = new FileSearchEngine({
+			folderQueries: ROOT_FOLDER_QUERY,
+			includePattern: { '**/nofile.txt': true },
+			exists: true
+		});
+
+		let count = 0;
+		engine.search((result) => {
+			if (result) {
+				count++;
+			}
+		}, () => { }, (error, complete) => {
+			assert.ok(!error);
+			assert.equal(count, 0);
+			assert.ok(!complete.limitHit);
+			done();
+		});
+	});
+
+	test('Files: exists without Ripgrep', function (done: () => void) {
+		let engine = new FileSearchEngine({
+			folderQueries: ROOT_FOLDER_QUERY,
+			includePattern: { '**/file.txt': true },
+			exists: true,
+			useRipgrep: false
+		});
+
+		let count = 0;
+		engine.search((result) => {
+			if (result) {
+				count++;
+			}
+		}, () => { }, (error, complete) => {
+			assert.ok(!error);
+			assert.equal(count, 0);
+			assert.ok(complete.limitHit);
+			done();
+		});
+	});
+
+	test('Files: not exists without Ripgrep', function (done: () => void) {
+		let engine = new FileSearchEngine({
+			folderQueries: ROOT_FOLDER_QUERY,
+			includePattern: { '**/nofile.txt': true },
+			exists: true,
+			useRipgrep: false
+		});
+
+		let count = 0;
+		engine.search((result) => {
+			if (result) {
+				count++;
+			}
+		}, () => { }, (error, complete) => {
+			assert.ok(!error);
+			assert.equal(count, 0);
+			assert.ok(!complete.limitHit);
+			done();
+		});
+	});
+
 	test('Files: examples/com*', function (done: () => void) {
 		let engine = new FileSearchEngine({
 			folderQueries: ROOT_FOLDER_QUERY,