diff --git a/Documentation/config/merge.txt b/Documentation/config/merge.txt
index 6a313937f8..88b29127bf 100644
--- a/Documentation/config/merge.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config/merge.txt
@@ -70,6 +70,16 @@ merge.stat::
 	Whether to print the diffstat between ORIG_HEAD and the merge result
 	at the end of the merge.  True by default.
 
+merge.autoStash::
+	When set to true, automatically create a temporary stash entry
+	before the operation begins, and apply it after the operation
+	ends.  This means that you can run rebase on a dirty worktree.
+	However, use with care: the final stash application after a
+	successful rebase might result in non-trivial conflicts.
+	This option can be overridden by the `--no-autostash` and
+	`--autostash` options of linkgit:git-merge[1].
+	Defaults to false.
+
 merge.tool::
 	Controls which merge tool is used by linkgit:git-mergetool[1].
 	The list below shows the valid built-in values.
diff --git a/Documentation/merge-options.txt b/Documentation/merge-options.txt
index 40dc4f5e8c..34493eb58b 100644
--- a/Documentation/merge-options.txt
+++ b/Documentation/merge-options.txt
@@ -155,6 +155,14 @@ ifndef::git-pull[]
 	Note that not all merge strategies may support progress
 	reporting.
 
+--autostash::
+--no-autostash::
+	Automatically create a temporary stash entry before the operation
+	begins, and apply it after the operation ends.  This means
+	that you can run rebase on a dirty worktree.  However, use
+	with care: the final stash application after a successful
+	rebase might result in non-trivial conflicts.
+
 endif::git-pull[]
 
 --allow-unrelated-histories::
diff --git a/branch.c b/branch.c
index 579494738a..bf2536c70d 100644
--- a/branch.c
+++ b/branch.c
@@ -344,6 +344,7 @@ void remove_merge_branch_state(struct repository *r)
 	unlink(git_path_merge_rr(r));
 	unlink(git_path_merge_msg(r));
 	unlink(git_path_merge_mode(r));
+	apply_autostash(git_path_merge_autostash(r));
 }
 
 void remove_branch_state(struct repository *r, int verbose)
diff --git a/builtin/commit.c b/builtin/commit.c
index e48c1fd90a..ebb7f4d80e 100644
--- a/builtin/commit.c
+++ b/builtin/commit.c
@@ -1679,6 +1679,8 @@ int cmd_commit(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	unlink(git_path_merge_mode(the_repository));
 	unlink(git_path_squash_msg(the_repository));
 
+	apply_autostash(git_path_merge_autostash(the_repository));
+
 	if (commit_index_files())
 		die(_("repository has been updated, but unable to write\n"
 		      "new_index file. Check that disk is not full and quota is\n"
diff --git a/builtin/merge.c b/builtin/merge.c
index 062e911441..a940bd4cbf 100644
--- a/builtin/merge.c
+++ b/builtin/merge.c
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ static int show_progress = -1;
 static int default_to_upstream = 1;
 static int signoff;
 static const char *sign_commit;
+static int autostash;
 static int no_verify;
 
 static struct strategy all_strategy[] = {
@@ -285,6 +286,8 @@ static struct option builtin_merge_options[] = {
 	OPT_SET_INT(0, "progress", &show_progress, N_("force progress reporting"), 1),
 	{ OPTION_STRING, 'S', "gpg-sign", &sign_commit, N_("key-id"),
 	  N_("GPG sign commit"), PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, NULL, (intptr_t) "" },
+	OPT_BOOL(0, "autostash", &autostash,
+	      N_("automatically stash/stash pop before and after")),
 	OPT_BOOL(0, "overwrite-ignore", &overwrite_ignore, N_("update ignored files (default)")),
 	OPT_BOOL(0, "signoff", &signoff, N_("add Signed-off-by:")),
 	OPT_BOOL(0, "no-verify", &no_verify, N_("bypass pre-merge-commit and commit-msg hooks")),
@@ -440,6 +443,7 @@ static void finish(struct commit *head_commit,
 		strbuf_addf(&reflog_message, "%s: %s",
 			getenv("GIT_REFLOG_ACTION"), msg);
 	}
+	apply_autostash(git_path_merge_autostash(the_repository));
 	if (squash) {
 		squash_message(head_commit, remoteheads);
 	} else {
@@ -631,6 +635,9 @@ static int git_merge_config(const char *k, const char *v, void *cb)
 	} else if (!strcmp(k, "commit.gpgsign")) {
 		sign_commit = git_config_bool(k, v) ? "" : NULL;
 		return 0;
+	} else if (!strcmp(k, "merge.autostash")) {
+		autostash = git_config_bool(k, v);
+		return 0;
 	}
 
 	status = fmt_merge_msg_config(k, v, cb);
@@ -1288,6 +1295,7 @@ int cmd_merge(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 
 		/* Invoke 'git reset --merge' */
 		ret = cmd_reset(nargc, nargv, prefix);
+		apply_autostash(git_path_merge_autostash(the_repository));
 		goto done;
 	}
 
@@ -1508,6 +1516,10 @@ int cmd_merge(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			goto done;
 		}
 
+		if (autostash)
+			create_autostash(the_repository,
+					 git_path_merge_autostash(the_repository),
+					 "merge");
 		if (checkout_fast_forward(the_repository,
 					  &head_commit->object.oid,
 					  &commit->object.oid,
@@ -1574,6 +1586,11 @@ int cmd_merge(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	if (fast_forward == FF_ONLY)
 		die(_("Not possible to fast-forward, aborting."));
 
+	if (autostash)
+		create_autostash(the_repository,
+				 git_path_merge_autostash(the_repository),
+				 "merge");
+
 	/* We are going to make a new commit. */
 	git_committer_info(IDENT_STRICT);
 
diff --git a/path.c b/path.c
index a76eec8b96..d8c4072f1a 100644
--- a/path.c
+++ b/path.c
@@ -1533,5 +1533,6 @@ REPO_GIT_PATH_FUNC(merge_msg, "MERGE_MSG")
 REPO_GIT_PATH_FUNC(merge_rr, "MERGE_RR")
 REPO_GIT_PATH_FUNC(merge_mode, "MERGE_MODE")
 REPO_GIT_PATH_FUNC(merge_head, "MERGE_HEAD")
+REPO_GIT_PATH_FUNC(merge_autostash, "MERGE_AUTOSTASH")
 REPO_GIT_PATH_FUNC(fetch_head, "FETCH_HEAD")
 REPO_GIT_PATH_FUNC(shallow, "shallow")
diff --git a/path.h b/path.h
index 14d6dcad16..1f1bf8f87a 100644
--- a/path.h
+++ b/path.h
@@ -177,11 +177,12 @@ struct path_cache {
 	const char *merge_rr;
 	const char *merge_mode;
 	const char *merge_head;
+	const char *merge_autostash;
 	const char *fetch_head;
 	const char *shallow;
 };
 
-#define PATH_CACHE_INIT { NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL }
+#define PATH_CACHE_INIT { NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL }
 
 const char *git_path_cherry_pick_head(struct repository *r);
 const char *git_path_revert_head(struct repository *r);
@@ -190,6 +191,7 @@ const char *git_path_merge_msg(struct repository *r);
 const char *git_path_merge_rr(struct repository *r);
 const char *git_path_merge_mode(struct repository *r);
 const char *git_path_merge_head(struct repository *r);
+const char *git_path_merge_autostash(struct repository *r);
 const char *git_path_fetch_head(struct repository *r);
 const char *git_path_shallow(struct repository *r);
 
diff --git a/t/t3033-merge-toplevel.sh b/t/t3033-merge-toplevel.sh
index d314599428..e29c284b9b 100755
--- a/t/t3033-merge-toplevel.sh
+++ b/t/t3033-merge-toplevel.sh
@@ -142,6 +142,17 @@ test_expect_success 'refuse two-project merge by default' '
 	test_must_fail git merge five
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'refuse two-project merge by default, quit before --autostash happens' '
+	t3033_reset &&
+	git reset --hard four &&
+	echo change >>one.t &&
+	git diff >expect &&
+	test_must_fail git merge --autostash five 2>err &&
+	test_i18ngrep ! "stash" err &&
+	git diff >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'two-project merge with --allow-unrelated-histories' '
 	t3033_reset &&
 	git reset --hard four &&
@@ -149,4 +160,15 @@ test_expect_success 'two-project merge with --allow-unrelated-histories' '
 	git diff --exit-code five
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'two-project merge with --allow-unrelated-histories with --autostash' '
+	t3033_reset &&
+	git reset --hard four &&
+	echo change >>one.t &&
+	git diff one.t >expect &&
+	git merge --allow-unrelated-histories --autostash five 2>err &&
+	test_i18ngrep "Applied autostash." err &&
+	git diff one.t >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
 test_done
diff --git a/t/t7600-merge.sh b/t/t7600-merge.sh
index 4fa0ef8e3b..e0c8a0bad4 100755
--- a/t/t7600-merge.sh
+++ b/t/t7600-merge.sh
@@ -30,13 +30,17 @@ Testing basic merge operations/option parsing.
 . "$TEST_DIRECTORY"/lib-gpg.sh
 
 test_write_lines 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >file
+cp file file.orig
 test_write_lines '1 X' 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >file.1
+test_write_lines 1 2 '3 X' 4 5 6 7 8 9 >file.3
 test_write_lines 1 2 3 4 '5 X' 6 7 8 9 >file.5
 test_write_lines 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 '9 X' >file.9
 test_write_lines 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 '9 Y' >file.9y
 test_write_lines '1 X' 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >result.1
 test_write_lines '1 X' 2 3 4 '5 X' 6 7 8 9 >result.1-5
+test_write_lines '1 X' 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 '9 X' >result.1-9
 test_write_lines '1 X' 2 3 4 '5 X' 6 7 8 '9 X' >result.1-5-9
+test_write_lines '1 X' 2 '3 X' 4 '5 X' 6 7 8 '9 X' >result.1-3-5-9
 test_write_lines 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 '9 Z' >result.9z
 
 create_merge_msgs () {
@@ -675,6 +679,67 @@ test_expect_success 'refresh the index before merging' '
 	git merge c3
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'merge with --autostash' '
+	git reset --hard c1 &&
+	git merge-file file file.orig file.9 &&
+	git merge --autostash c2 2>err &&
+	test_i18ngrep "Applied autostash." err &&
+	git show HEAD:file >merge-result &&
+	test_cmp result.1-5 merge-result &&
+	test_cmp result.1-5-9 file
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'merge with merge.autoStash' '
+	test_config merge.autoStash true &&
+	git reset --hard c1 &&
+	git merge-file file file.orig file.9 &&
+	git merge c2 2>err &&
+	test_i18ngrep "Applied autostash." err &&
+	git show HEAD:file >merge-result &&
+	test_cmp result.1-5 merge-result &&
+	test_cmp result.1-5-9 file
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'fast-forward merge with --autostash' '
+	git reset --hard c0 &&
+	git merge-file file file.orig file.5 &&
+	git merge --autostash c1 2>err &&
+	test_i18ngrep "Applied autostash." err &&
+	test_cmp result.1-5 file
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'octopus merge with --autostash' '
+	git reset --hard c1 &&
+	git merge-file file file.orig file.3 &&
+	git merge --autostash c2 c3 2>err &&
+	test_i18ngrep "Applied autostash." err &&
+	git show HEAD:file >merge-result &&
+	test_cmp result.1-5-9 merge-result &&
+	test_cmp result.1-3-5-9 file
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'conflicted merge with --autostash, --abort restores stash' '
+	git reset --hard c3 &&
+	cp file.1 file &&
+	test_must_fail git merge --autostash c7 &&
+	git merge --abort 2>err &&
+	test_i18ngrep "Applied autostash." err &&
+	test_cmp file.1 file
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'merge with conflicted --autostash changes' '
+	git reset --hard c1 &&
+	git merge-file file file.orig file.9y &&
+	git diff >expect &&
+	test_when_finished "test_might_fail git stash drop" &&
+	git merge --autostash c3 2>err &&
+	test_i18ngrep "Applying autostash resulted in conflicts." err &&
+	git show HEAD:file >merge-result &&
+	test_cmp result.1-9 merge-result &&
+	git stash show -p >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
 cat >expected.branch <<\EOF
 Merge branch 'c5-branch' (early part)
 EOF
