diff --git a/bash/ostree b/bash/ostree
index 0ba135e7..a6eb56de 100644
--- a/bash/ostree
+++ b/bash/ostree
@@ -783,6 +783,7 @@ _ostree_commit() {
     local options_with_args="
         --add-detached-metadata-string
         --add-metadata-string
+        --keep-metadata
         --bind-ref
         --body -m
         --body-file -F
diff --git a/src/ostree/ot-builtin-commit.c b/src/ostree/ot-builtin-commit.c
index 842d07d1..5e5cddd1 100644
--- a/src/ostree/ot-builtin-commit.c
+++ b/src/ostree/ot-builtin-commit.c
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ static char *opt_skiplist_file;
 static char **opt_metadata_strings;
 static char **opt_metadata_variants;
 static char **opt_detached_metadata_strings;
+static char **opt_metadata_keep;
 static gboolean opt_link_checkout_speedup;
 static gboolean opt_skip_if_unchanged;
 static gboolean opt_tar_autocreate_parents;
@@ -96,6 +97,7 @@ static GOptionEntry options[] = {
   { "tree", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_STRING_ARRAY, &opt_trees, "Overlay the given argument as a tree", "dir=PATH or tar=TARFILE or ref=COMMIT" },
   { "add-metadata-string", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_STRING_ARRAY, &opt_metadata_strings, "Add a key/value pair to metadata", "KEY=VALUE" },
   { "add-metadata", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_STRING_ARRAY, &opt_metadata_variants, "Add a key/value pair to metadata, where the KEY is a string, an VALUE is g_variant_parse() formatted", "KEY=VALUE" },
+  { "keep-metadata", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_STRING_ARRAY, &opt_metadata_keep, "Keep metadata KEY and its associated VALUE from parent", "KEY" },
   { "add-detached-metadata-string", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_STRING_ARRAY, &opt_detached_metadata_strings, "Add a key/value pair to detached metadata", "KEY=VALUE" },
   { "owner-uid", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_INT, &opt_owner_uid, "Set file ownership user id", "UID" },
   { "owner-gid", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_INT, &opt_owner_gid, "Set file ownership group id", "GID" },
@@ -498,7 +500,15 @@ ostree_builtin_commit (int argc, char **argv, OstreeCommandInvocation *invocatio
         }
     }
 
-  if (opt_metadata_strings || opt_metadata_variants)
+  if (!parent && opt_metadata_keep)
+    {
+      g_set_error_literal (error, G_IO_ERROR, G_IO_ERROR_FAILED,
+                           "Either --branch or --parent must be specified when using "
+                           "--keep-metadata");
+      goto out;
+    }
+
+  if (opt_metadata_strings || opt_metadata_variants || opt_metadata_keep)
     {
       g_autoptr(GVariantBuilder) builder =
         g_variant_builder_new (G_VARIANT_TYPE ("a{sv}"));
@@ -511,6 +521,31 @@ ostree_builtin_commit (int argc, char **argv, OstreeCommandInvocation *invocatio
           !parse_keyvalue_strings (builder, opt_metadata_variants, TRUE, error))
         goto out;
 
+      if (opt_metadata_keep)
+        {
+          g_assert (parent);
+
+          g_autoptr(GVariant) parent_commit = NULL;
+          if (!ostree_repo_load_commit (repo, parent, &parent_commit, NULL, error))
+            goto out;
+
+          g_auto(GVariantDict) dict;
+          g_variant_dict_init (&dict, g_variant_get_child_value (parent_commit, 0));
+          for (char **keyp = opt_metadata_keep; keyp && *keyp; keyp++)
+            {
+              const char *key = *keyp;
+              g_autoptr(GVariant) val = g_variant_dict_lookup_value (&dict, key, NULL);
+              if (!val)
+                {
+                  g_set_error (error, G_IO_ERROR, G_IO_ERROR_FAILED,
+                               "Missing metadata key '%s' from commit '%s'", key, parent);
+                  goto out;
+                }
+
+              g_variant_builder_add (builder, "{sv}", key, val);
+            }
+        }
+
       metadata = g_variant_ref_sink (g_variant_builder_end (builder));
     }
 
diff --git a/tests/basic-test.sh b/tests/basic-test.sh
index c4eb9cad..9c8771e5 100644
--- a/tests/basic-test.sh
+++ b/tests/basic-test.sh
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
-echo "1..$((78 + ${extra_basic_tests:-0}))"
+echo "1..$((79 + ${extra_basic_tests:-0}))"
 
 CHECKOUT_U_ARG=""
 CHECKOUT_H_ARGS="-H"
@@ -779,6 +779,18 @@ $OSTREE show --print-detached-metadata-key=SIGNATURE test2 > test2-meta
 assert_file_has_content test2-meta "HANCOCK"
 echo "ok metadata commit with strings"
 
+$OSTREE commit ${COMMIT_ARGS} -b test2 --tree=ref=test2 \
+   --add-detached-metadata-string=SIGNATURE=HANCOCK \
+  --keep-metadata=KITTENS --keep-metadata=SOMENUM
+if $OSTREE show --print-metadata-key=FOO test2; then
+  assert_not_reached "FOO was kept without explicit --keep-metadata?"
+fi
+$OSTREE show --print-metadata-key=KITTENS test2 > test2-meta
+assert_file_has_content test2-meta "CUTE"
+$OSTREE show -B --print-metadata-key=SOMENUM test2 > test2-meta
+assert_file_has_content test2-meta "uint64 42"
+echo "ok keep metadata from parent"
+
 cd ${test_tmpdir}
 $OSTREE show --print-metadata-key=ostree.ref-binding test2 > test2-ref-binding
 assert_file_has_content test2-ref-binding 'test2'