diff --git a/Documentation/git-maintenance.txt b/Documentation/git-maintenance.txt
index 1aa1112418..5f8f63f098 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-maintenance.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-maintenance.txt
@@ -273,6 +273,46 @@ schedule to ensure you are executing the correct binaries in your
 schedule.
 
 
+BACKGROUND MAINTENANCE ON MACOS SYSTEMS
+---------------------------------------
+
+While macOS technically supports `cron`, using `crontab -e` requires
+elevated privileges and the executed process does not have a full user
+context. Without a full user context, Git and its credential helpers
+cannot access stored credentials, so some maintenance tasks are not
+functional.
+
+Instead, `git maintenance start` interacts with the `launchctl` tool,
+which is the recommended way to schedule timed jobs in macOS. Scheduling
+maintenance through `git maintenance (start|stop)` requires some
+`launchctl` features available only in macOS 10.11 or later.
+
+Your user-specific scheduled tasks are stored as XML-formatted `.plist`
+files in `~/Library/LaunchAgents/`. You can see the currently-registered
+tasks using the following command:
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+$ ls ~/Library/LaunchAgents/org.git-scm.git*
+org.git-scm.git.daily.plist
+org.git-scm.git.hourly.plist
+org.git-scm.git.weekly.plist
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+One task is registered for each `--schedule=<frequency>` option. To
+inspect how the XML format describes each schedule, open one of these
+`.plist` files in an editor and inspect the `<array>` element following
+the `<key>StartCalendarInterval</key>` element.
+
+`git maintenance start` will overwrite these files and register the
+tasks again with `launchctl`, so any customizations should be done by
+creating your own `.plist` files with distinct names. Similarly, the
+`git maintenance stop` command will unregister the tasks with `launchctl`
+and delete the `.plist` files.
+
+To create more advanced customizations to your background tasks, see
+launchctl.plist(5) for more information.
+
+
 GIT
 ---
 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
diff --git a/builtin/gc.c b/builtin/gc.c
index 18ae7f7138..782769f243 100644
--- a/builtin/gc.c
+++ b/builtin/gc.c
@@ -1491,6 +1491,186 @@ static int maintenance_unregister(void)
 	return run_command(&config_unset);
 }
 
+static const char *get_frequency(enum schedule_priority schedule)
+{
+	switch (schedule) {
+	case SCHEDULE_HOURLY:
+		return "hourly";
+	case SCHEDULE_DAILY:
+		return "daily";
+	case SCHEDULE_WEEKLY:
+		return "weekly";
+	default:
+		BUG("invalid schedule %d", schedule);
+	}
+}
+
+static char *launchctl_service_name(const char *frequency)
+{
+	struct strbuf label = STRBUF_INIT;
+	strbuf_addf(&label, "org.git-scm.git.%s", frequency);
+	return strbuf_detach(&label, NULL);
+}
+
+static char *launchctl_service_filename(const char *name)
+{
+	char *expanded;
+	struct strbuf filename = STRBUF_INIT;
+	strbuf_addf(&filename, "~/Library/LaunchAgents/%s.plist", name);
+
+	expanded = expand_user_path(filename.buf, 1);
+	if (!expanded)
+		die(_("failed to expand path '%s'"), filename.buf);
+
+	strbuf_release(&filename);
+	return expanded;
+}
+
+static char *launchctl_get_uid(void)
+{
+	return xstrfmt("gui/%d", getuid());
+}
+
+static int launchctl_boot_plist(int enable, const char *filename, const char *cmd)
+{
+	int result;
+	struct child_process child = CHILD_PROCESS_INIT;
+	char *uid = launchctl_get_uid();
+
+	strvec_split(&child.args, cmd);
+	if (enable)
+		strvec_push(&child.args, "bootstrap");
+	else
+		strvec_push(&child.args, "bootout");
+	strvec_push(&child.args, uid);
+	strvec_push(&child.args, filename);
+
+	child.no_stderr = 1;
+	child.no_stdout = 1;
+
+	if (start_command(&child))
+		die(_("failed to start launchctl"));
+
+	result = finish_command(&child);
+
+	free(uid);
+	return result;
+}
+
+static int launchctl_remove_plist(enum schedule_priority schedule, const char *cmd)
+{
+	const char *frequency = get_frequency(schedule);
+	char *name = launchctl_service_name(frequency);
+	char *filename = launchctl_service_filename(name);
+	int result = launchctl_boot_plist(0, filename, cmd);
+	unlink(filename);
+	free(filename);
+	free(name);
+	return result;
+}
+
+static int launchctl_remove_plists(const char *cmd)
+{
+	return launchctl_remove_plist(SCHEDULE_HOURLY, cmd) ||
+		launchctl_remove_plist(SCHEDULE_DAILY, cmd) ||
+		launchctl_remove_plist(SCHEDULE_WEEKLY, cmd);
+}
+
+static int launchctl_schedule_plist(const char *exec_path, enum schedule_priority schedule, const char *cmd)
+{
+	FILE *plist;
+	int i;
+	const char *preamble, *repeat;
+	const char *frequency = get_frequency(schedule);
+	char *name = launchctl_service_name(frequency);
+	char *filename = launchctl_service_filename(name);
+
+	if (safe_create_leading_directories(filename))
+		die(_("failed to create directories for '%s'"), filename);
+	plist = xfopen(filename, "w");
+
+	preamble = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"US-ASCII\"?>\n"
+		   "<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC \"-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN\" \"http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd\">\n"
+		   "<plist version=\"1.0\">"
+		   "<dict>\n"
+		   "<key>Label</key><string>%s</string>\n"
+		   "<key>ProgramArguments</key>\n"
+		   "<array>\n"
+		   "<string>%s/git</string>\n"
+		   "<string>--exec-path=%s</string>\n"
+		   "<string>for-each-repo</string>\n"
+		   "<string>--config=maintenance.repo</string>\n"
+		   "<string>maintenance</string>\n"
+		   "<string>run</string>\n"
+		   "<string>--schedule=%s</string>\n"
+		   "</array>\n"
+		   "<key>StartCalendarInterval</key>\n"
+		   "<array>\n";
+	fprintf(plist, preamble, name, exec_path, exec_path, frequency);
+
+	switch (schedule) {
+	case SCHEDULE_HOURLY:
+		repeat = "<dict>\n"
+			 "<key>Hour</key><integer>%d</integer>\n"
+			 "<key>Minute</key><integer>0</integer>\n"
+			 "</dict>\n";
+		for (i = 1; i <= 23; i++)
+			fprintf(plist, repeat, i);
+		break;
+
+	case SCHEDULE_DAILY:
+		repeat = "<dict>\n"
+			 "<key>Day</key><integer>%d</integer>\n"
+			 "<key>Hour</key><integer>0</integer>\n"
+			 "<key>Minute</key><integer>0</integer>\n"
+			 "</dict>\n";
+		for (i = 1; i <= 6; i++)
+			fprintf(plist, repeat, i);
+		break;
+
+	case SCHEDULE_WEEKLY:
+		fprintf(plist,
+			"<dict>\n"
+			"<key>Day</key><integer>0</integer>\n"
+			"<key>Hour</key><integer>0</integer>\n"
+			"<key>Minute</key><integer>0</integer>\n"
+			"</dict>\n");
+		break;
+
+	default:
+		/* unreachable */
+		break;
+	}
+	fprintf(plist, "</array>\n</dict>\n</plist>\n");
+	fclose(plist);
+
+	/* bootout might fail if not already running, so ignore */
+	launchctl_boot_plist(0, filename, cmd);
+	if (launchctl_boot_plist(1, filename, cmd))
+		die(_("failed to bootstrap service %s"), filename);
+
+	free(filename);
+	free(name);
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static int launchctl_add_plists(const char *cmd)
+{
+	const char *exec_path = git_exec_path();
+
+	return launchctl_schedule_plist(exec_path, SCHEDULE_HOURLY, cmd) ||
+		launchctl_schedule_plist(exec_path, SCHEDULE_DAILY, cmd) ||
+		launchctl_schedule_plist(exec_path, SCHEDULE_WEEKLY, cmd);
+}
+
+static int launchctl_update_schedule(int run_maintenance, int fd, const char *cmd)
+{
+	if (run_maintenance)
+		return launchctl_add_plists(cmd);
+	else
+		return launchctl_remove_plists(cmd);
+}
+
 #define BEGIN_LINE "# BEGIN GIT MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE"
 #define END_LINE "# END GIT MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE"
 
@@ -1579,7 +1759,11 @@ static int crontab_update_schedule(int run_maintenance, int fd, const char *cmd)
 	return result;
 }
 
+#if defined(__APPLE__)
+static const char platform_scheduler[] = "launchctl";
+#else
 static const char platform_scheduler[] = "crontab";
+#endif
 
 static int update_background_schedule(int enable)
 {
@@ -1603,7 +1787,9 @@ static int update_background_schedule(int enable)
 	if (hold_lock_file_for_update(&lk, lock_path, LOCK_NO_DEREF) < 0)
 		return error(_("another process is scheduling background maintenance"));
 
-	if (!strcmp(scheduler, "crontab"))
+	if (!strcmp(scheduler, "launchctl"))
+		result = launchctl_update_schedule(enable, lk.tempfile->fd, cmd);
+	else if (!strcmp(scheduler, "crontab"))
 		result = crontab_update_schedule(enable, lk.tempfile->fd, cmd);
 	else
 		die("unknown background scheduler: %s", scheduler);
diff --git a/t/t7900-maintenance.sh b/t/t7900-maintenance.sh
index eeb939168d..6d37312901 100755
--- a/t/t7900-maintenance.sh
+++ b/t/t7900-maintenance.sh
@@ -7,6 +7,19 @@ test_description='git maintenance builtin'
 GIT_TEST_COMMIT_GRAPH=0
 GIT_TEST_MULTI_PACK_INDEX=0
 
+test_lazy_prereq XMLLINT '
+	xmllint --version
+'
+
+test_xmllint () {
+	if test_have_prereq XMLLINT
+	then
+		xmllint --noout "$@"
+	else
+		true
+	fi
+}
+
 test_expect_success 'help text' '
 	test_expect_code 129 git maintenance -h 2>err &&
 	test_i18ngrep "usage: git maintenance <subcommand>" err &&
@@ -395,6 +408,51 @@ test_expect_success 'start preserves existing schedule' '
 	grep "Important information!" cron.txt
 '
 
+test_expect_success !MINGW 'start and stop macOS maintenance' '
+	uid=$(id -u) &&
+
+	write_script print-args <<-\EOF &&
+	echo $* >>args
+	EOF
+
+	rm -f args &&
+	GIT_TEST_MAINT_SCHEDULER=launchctl:./print-args git maintenance start &&
+
+	# start registers the repo
+	git config --get --global maintenance.repo "$(pwd)" &&
+
+	ls "$HOME/Library/LaunchAgents" >actual &&
+	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
+	org.git-scm.git.daily.plist
+	org.git-scm.git.hourly.plist
+	org.git-scm.git.weekly.plist
+	EOF
+	test_cmp expect actual &&
+
+	rm expect &&
+	for frequency in hourly daily weekly
+	do
+		PLIST="$HOME/Library/LaunchAgents/org.git-scm.git.$frequency.plist" &&
+		test_xmllint "$PLIST" &&
+		grep schedule=$frequency "$PLIST" &&
+		echo "bootout gui/$uid $PLIST" >>expect &&
+		echo "bootstrap gui/$uid $PLIST" >>expect || return 1
+	done &&
+	test_cmp expect args &&
+
+	rm -f args &&
+	GIT_TEST_MAINT_SCHEDULER=launchctl:./print-args git maintenance stop &&
+
+	# stop does not unregister the repo
+	git config --get --global maintenance.repo "$(pwd)" &&
+
+	printf "bootout gui/$uid $HOME/Library/LaunchAgents/org.git-scm.git.%s.plist\n" \
+		hourly daily weekly >expect &&
+	test_cmp expect args &&
+	ls "$HOME/Library/LaunchAgents" >actual &&
+	test_line_count = 0 actual
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'register preserves existing strategy' '
 	git config maintenance.strategy none &&
 	git maintenance register &&
