diff --git a/builtin/fetch.c b/builtin/fetch.c
index eab73d7417..06e514b07e 100644
--- a/builtin/fetch.c
+++ b/builtin/fetch.c
@@ -2133,6 +2133,17 @@ int cmd_fetch(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		strvec_clear(&options);
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * Skip irrelevant tasks because we know objects were not
+	 * fetched.
+	 *
+	 * NEEDSWORK: as a future optimization, we can return early
+	 * whenever objects were not fetched e.g. if we already have all
+	 * of them.
+	 */
+	if (negotiate_only)
+		goto cleanup;
+
 	prepare_repo_settings(the_repository);
 	if (fetch_write_commit_graph > 0 ||
 	    (fetch_write_commit_graph < 0 &&