diff --git a/kernelci/cli/__init__.py b/kernelci/cli/__init__.py
index bf11d0cf86..5f6288ba5e 100644
--- a/kernelci/cli/__init__.py
+++ b/kernelci/cli/__init__.py
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@
 from TOML settings.
 """
 
+import re
+import typing
+
 import click
 
 import kernelci.settings
@@ -129,3 +132,48 @@ def group(self, *args, cls=None, **kwargs):
 def kci(ctx, settings):
     """Entry point for the kci command line tool"""
     ctx.obj = CommandSettings(settings)
+
+
+def split_attributes(attributes: typing.List[str]):
+    """Split attributes into a dictionary.
+
+    Split the attributes string into a dictionary using space as a delimiter
+    between key/value pairs and `=` between the key and the value.  The API
+    operators are expected to be part of the key e.g. score__gte=100 to find
+    objects with a 'score' attribute of 100 or more.
+
+    As a syntactic convenience, if the operator matches one of >, <, >=, <=, !=
+    then the corresponding API operator '__gt', '__lt', '__gte', '__lte',
+    '__ne' is added to the key name automatically.
+    """
+    operators = {
+        '>': '__gt',
+        '<': '__lt',
+        '>=': '__gte',
+        '<=': '__lte',
+        '!=': '__ne',
+        '=': '',
+    }
+    pattern = re.compile(r'^([.a-zA-Z0-9_-]+) *([<>!=]+) *(.*)')
+
+    parsed = {}
+    for attribute in attributes:
+        match = pattern.match(attribute)
+        if not match:
+            raise click.ClickException(f"Invalid attribute: {attribute}")
+        name, operator, value = match.groups()
+        ex_op, ex_value = parsed.get(name, (None, None))
+        if ex_value:
+            raise click.ClickException(
+                f"Conflicting values for {name}: \
+                {name}{value}, {ex_op}{ex_value}"
+            )
+        opstr = operators.get(operator)
+        if opstr is None:
+            raise click.ClickException(f"Invalid operator: {operator}")
+        parsed[name] = (opstr, value)
+
+    return {
+        ''.join((key, opstr)): value
+        for key, (opstr, value) in parsed.items()
+    }
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
index 8c5be9f0d0..25ed93b973 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 
 """Unit test for the KernelCI command line tools"""
 
+import pytest
+
 import click
 
 import kernelci.cli
@@ -60,3 +62,46 @@ def cmd(foo, secrets):  # pylint: disable=disallowed-name
     except SystemExit as exc:
         if exc.code != 0:
             raise exc
+
+
+def test_split_valid_attributes():
+    """Test the logic to split valid attribute with operators"""
+    attributes = [
+        (['name=value'], {'name': 'value'}),
+        (['name>value'], {'name__gt': 'value'}),
+        (['name>=value'], {'name__gte': 'value'}),
+        (['name<value'], {'name__lt': 'value'}),
+        (['name<=value'], {'name__lte': 'value'}),
+        (['name = value'], {'name': 'value'}),
+        (['name =value'], {'name': 'value'}),
+        (['name >= value'], {'name__gte': 'value'}),
+        (['name>= value'], {'name__gte': 'value'}),
+        (['a=b', 'c=123', 'x3 = 1.2', 'abc >= 4', 'z != x[2]'], {
+            'a': 'b', 'c': '123', 'x3': '1.2', 'abc__gte': '4', 'z__ne': 'x[2]'
+        }),
+    ]
+    for attrs, parsed in attributes:
+        print(attrs, parsed)
+        result = kernelci.cli.split_attributes(attrs)
+        assert result == parsed
+
+
+def test_split_invalid_attributes():
+    """Test the logic to split invalid attribute with operators"""
+    attributes = [
+        ['key == something'],
+        ['key==else'],
+        ['key== else'],
+        ['x ==a'],
+        ['wr?ong = other'],
+        ['wrong| = other'],
+        ['foo=>bar'],
+        ['foo=<bar'],
+        ['foo<>bar'],
+        ['foo=!bar'],
+        ['a=1', 'a=again'],
+        ['key = 123', 'key >= 456']
+    ]
+    for attrs in attributes:
+        with pytest.raises(click.ClickException):
+            kernelci.cli.split_attributes(attrs)