diff --git a/src/ostree/ot-builtin-commit.c b/src/ostree/ot-builtin-commit.c
index 72b83bf7..517ea70e 100644
--- a/src/ostree/ot-builtin-commit.c
+++ b/src/ostree/ot-builtin-commit.c
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 
 static char *opt_subject;
 static char *opt_body;
+static char *opt_parent;
 static char *opt_branch;
 static char *opt_statoverride_file;
 static char **opt_metadata_strings;
@@ -67,6 +68,7 @@ parse_fsync_cb (const char  *option_name,
 }
 
 static GOptionEntry options[] = {
+  { "parent", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_STRING, &opt_parent, "Parent ref, or \"none\"", "REF" },
   { "subject", 's', 0, G_OPTION_ARG_STRING, &opt_subject, "One line subject", "SUBJECT" },
   { "body", 'm', 0, G_OPTION_ARG_STRING, &opt_body, "Full description", "BODY" },
   { "branch", 'b', 0, G_OPTION_ARG_STRING, &opt_branch, "Branch", "BRANCH" },
@@ -361,8 +363,22 @@ ostree_builtin_commit (int argc, char **argv, GCancellable *cancellable, GError
       modifier = ostree_repo_commit_modifier_new (flags, commit_filter, mode_adds, NULL);
     }
 
-  if (!ostree_repo_resolve_rev (repo, opt_branch, TRUE, &parent, error))
-    goto out;
+  if (opt_parent)
+    {
+      if (g_str_equal (opt_parent, "none"))
+        parent = NULL;
+      else
+        {
+          if (!ostree_validate_checksum_string (opt_parent, error))
+            goto out;
+          parent = g_strdup (opt_parent);
+        }
+    }
+  else
+    {
+      if (!ostree_repo_resolve_rev (repo, opt_branch, TRUE, &parent, error))
+        goto out;
+    }
 
   if (!opt_subject && !opt_body)
     {
diff --git a/tests/basic-test.sh b/tests/basic-test.sh
index 8acec1c2..4b46fc10 100755
--- a/tests/basic-test.sh
+++ b/tests/basic-test.sh
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
-echo "1..50"
+echo "1..52"
 
 $OSTREE checkout test2 checkout-test2
 echo "ok checkout"
@@ -96,6 +96,23 @@ assert_file_has_content yet/another/tree/green 'leaf'
 assert_file_has_content four '4'
 echo "ok cwd contents"
 
+cd ${test_tmpdir}
+$OSTREE commit -b test2-no-parent -s '' $test_tmpdir/checkout-test2-4
+assert_streq $($OSTREE log test2-no-parent |grep '^commit' | wc -l) "1"
+$OSTREE commit -b test2-no-parent -s '' --parent=none $test_tmpdir/checkout-test2-4
+assert_streq $($OSTREE log test2-no-parent |grep '^commit' | wc -l) "1"
+echo "ok commit no parent"
+
+cd ${test_tmpdir}
+$OSTREE commit -b test2-custom-parent -s '' $test_tmpdir/checkout-test2-4
+$OSTREE commit -b test2-custom-parent -s '' $test_tmpdir/checkout-test2-4
+$OSTREE commit -b test2-custom-parent -s '' $test_tmpdir/checkout-test2-4
+assert_streq $($OSTREE log test2-custom-parent |grep '^commit' | wc -l) "3"
+prevparent=$($OSTREE rev-parse test2-custom-parent^)
+$OSTREE commit -b test2-custom-parent -s '' --parent=${prevparent} $test_tmpdir/checkout-test2-4
+assert_streq $($OSTREE log test2-custom-parent |grep '^commit' | wc -l) "3"
+echo "ok commit custom parent"
+
 cd ${test_tmpdir}
 $OSTREE diff test2^ test2 > diff-test2
 assert_file_has_content diff-test2 'D */a/5'