diff --git a/src/builtin_exit.cpp b/src/builtin_exit.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b3c22a944
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/builtin_exit.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+// Implementation of the exit builtin.
+#include "config.h"  // IWYU pragma: keep
+
+#include <errno.h>
+#include <stddef.h>
+
+#include "builtin.h"
+#include "builtin_exit.h"
+#include "common.h"
+#include "fallback.h"  // IWYU pragma: keep
+#include "io.h"
+#include "proc.h"
+#include "reader.h"
+#include "wgetopt.h"
+#include "wutil.h"  // IWYU pragma: keep
+
+struct cmd_opts {
+    bool print_help = false;
+};
+static const wchar_t *short_options = L"h";
+static const struct woption long_options[] = {{L"help", no_argument, NULL, 'h'},
+                                              {NULL, 0, NULL, 0}};
+
+static int parse_cmd_opts(struct cmd_opts *opts, int *optind,  //!OCLINT(high ncss method)
+                          int argc, wchar_t **argv, parser_t &parser, io_streams_t &streams) {
+    UNUSED(parser);
+    UNUSED(streams);
+    wchar_t *cmd = argv[0];
+    int opt;
+    wgetopter_t w;
+    while ((opt = w.wgetopt_long(argc, argv, short_options, long_options, NULL)) != -1) {
+        switch (opt) {  //!OCLINT(too few branches)
+            case 'h': {
+                opts->print_help = true;
+                return STATUS_CMD_OK;
+            }
+            case '?': {
+                // We would normally invoke builtin_unknown_option() and return an error.
+                // But for this command we want to let it try and parse the value as a negative
+                // return value.
+                *optind = w.woptind - 1;
+                return STATUS_CMD_OK;
+            }
+            default: {
+                DIE("unexpected retval from wgetopt_long");
+                break;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    *optind = w.woptind;
+    return STATUS_CMD_OK;
+}
+
+/// The exit builtin. Calls reader_exit to exit and returns the value specified.
+int builtin_exit(parser_t &parser, io_streams_t &streams, wchar_t **argv) {
+    const wchar_t *cmd = argv[0];
+    int argc = builtin_count_args(argv);
+    struct cmd_opts opts;
+
+    int optind;
+    int retval = parse_cmd_opts(&opts, &optind, argc, argv, parser, streams);
+    if (retval != STATUS_CMD_OK) return retval;
+
+    if (opts.print_help) {
+        builtin_print_help(parser, streams, cmd, streams.out);
+        return STATUS_CMD_OK;
+    }
+
+    if (optind + 1 < argc) {
+        streams.err.append_format(BUILTIN_ERR_TOO_MANY_ARGUMENTS, cmd);
+        builtin_print_help(parser, streams, cmd, streams.err);
+        return STATUS_INVALID_ARGS;
+    }
+
+    if (optind == argc) {
+        retval = proc_get_last_status();
+    } else {
+        retval = fish_wcstoi(argv[optind]);
+        if (errno) {
+            streams.err.append_format(_(L"%ls: Argument '%ls' must be an integer\n"), cmd,
+                                      argv[optind]);
+            builtin_print_help(parser, streams, cmd, streams.err);
+            return STATUS_INVALID_ARGS;
+        }
+    }
+    reader_exit(1, 0);
+    return retval;
+}
diff --git a/src/builtin_exit.h b/src/builtin_exit.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1a279ab5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/builtin_exit.h
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+// Prototypes for executing builtin_exit function.
+#ifndef FISH_BUILTIN_EXIT_H
+#define FISH_BUILTIN_EXIT_H
+
+class parser_t;
+struct io_streams_t;
+
+int builtin_exit(parser_t &parser, io_streams_t &streams, wchar_t **argv);
+#endif