diff --git a/Documentation/git-maintenance.txt b/Documentation/git-maintenance.txt
index 3b432171d6..80ddd33ceb 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-maintenance.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-maintenance.txt
@@ -145,6 +145,12 @@ incremental-repack::
 	which is a special case that attempts to repack all pack-files
 	into a single pack-file.
 
+pack-refs::
+	The `pack-refs` task collects the loose reference files and
+	collects them into a single file. This speeds up operations that
+	need to iterate across many references. See linkgit:git-pack-refs[1]
+	for more information.
+
 OPTIONS
 -------
 --auto::
diff --git a/builtin/gc.c b/builtin/gc.c
index 4c40594d66..41bec4f177 100644
--- a/builtin/gc.c
+++ b/builtin/gc.c
@@ -54,7 +54,6 @@ static const char *prune_worktrees_expire = "3.months.ago";
 static unsigned long big_pack_threshold;
 static unsigned long max_delta_cache_size = DEFAULT_DELTA_CACHE_SIZE;
 
-static struct strvec pack_refs_cmd = STRVEC_INIT;
 static struct strvec reflog = STRVEC_INIT;
 static struct strvec repack = STRVEC_INIT;
 static struct strvec prune = STRVEC_INIT;
@@ -163,6 +162,15 @@ static void gc_config(void)
 	git_config(git_default_config, NULL);
 }
 
+struct maintenance_run_opts;
+static int maintenance_task_pack_refs(MAYBE_UNUSED struct maintenance_run_opts *opts)
+{
+	struct strvec pack_refs_cmd = STRVEC_INIT;
+	strvec_pushl(&pack_refs_cmd, "pack-refs", "--all", "--prune", NULL);
+
+	return run_command_v_opt(pack_refs_cmd.v, RUN_GIT_CMD);
+}
+
 static int too_many_loose_objects(void)
 {
 	/*
@@ -518,8 +526,8 @@ static void gc_before_repack(void)
 	if (done++)
 		return;
 
-	if (pack_refs && run_command_v_opt(pack_refs_cmd.v, RUN_GIT_CMD))
-		die(FAILED_RUN, pack_refs_cmd.v[0]);
+	if (pack_refs && maintenance_task_pack_refs(NULL))
+		die(FAILED_RUN, "pack-refs");
 
 	if (prune_reflogs && run_command_v_opt(reflog.v, RUN_GIT_CMD))
 		die(FAILED_RUN, reflog.v[0]);
@@ -556,7 +564,6 @@ int cmd_gc(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	if (argc == 2 && !strcmp(argv[1], "-h"))
 		usage_with_options(builtin_gc_usage, builtin_gc_options);
 
-	strvec_pushl(&pack_refs_cmd, "pack-refs", "--all", "--prune", NULL);
 	strvec_pushl(&reflog, "reflog", "expire", "--all", NULL);
 	strvec_pushl(&repack, "repack", "-d", "-l", NULL);
 	strvec_pushl(&prune, "prune", "--expire", NULL);
@@ -1224,6 +1231,7 @@ enum maintenance_task_label {
 	TASK_INCREMENTAL_REPACK,
 	TASK_GC,
 	TASK_COMMIT_GRAPH,
+	TASK_PACK_REFS,
 
 	/* Leave as final value */
 	TASK__COUNT
@@ -1255,6 +1263,11 @@ static struct maintenance_task tasks[] = {
 		maintenance_task_commit_graph,
 		should_write_commit_graph,
 	},
+	[TASK_PACK_REFS] = {
+		"pack-refs",
+		maintenance_task_pack_refs,
+		NULL,
+	},
 };
 
 static int compare_tasks_by_selection(const void *a_, const void *b_)
diff --git a/t/t7900-maintenance.sh b/t/t7900-maintenance.sh
index 78ccf4b33f..4a8a78769b 100755
--- a/t/t7900-maintenance.sh
+++ b/t/t7900-maintenance.sh
@@ -343,6 +343,18 @@ test_expect_success 'maintenance.incremental-repack.auto' '
 	test_subcommand git multi-pack-index write --no-progress <trace-B
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'pack-refs task' '
+	for n in $(test_seq 1 5)
+	do
+		git branch -f to-pack/$n HEAD || return 1
+	done &&
+	GIT_TRACE2_EVENT="$(pwd)/pack-refs.txt" \
+		git maintenance run --task=pack-refs &&
+	ls .git/refs/heads/ >after &&
+	test_must_be_empty after &&
+	test_subcommand git pack-refs --all --prune <pack-refs.txt
+'
+
 test_expect_success '--auto and --schedule incompatible' '
 	test_must_fail git maintenance run --auto --schedule=daily 2>err &&
 	test_i18ngrep "at most one" err