diff --git a/db/db_impl/db_impl.cc b/db/db_impl/db_impl.cc
index 3bc2be1f047..fe685aa4ec3 100644
--- a/db/db_impl/db_impl.cc
+++ b/db/db_impl/db_impl.cc
@@ -5897,6 +5897,7 @@ Status DBImpl::IngestExternalFile(
 
 Status DBImpl::IngestExternalFiles(
     const std::vector<IngestExternalFileArg>& args) {
+  PERF_TIMER_GUARD(file_ingestion_nanos);
   // TODO: plumb Env::IOActivity, Env::IOPriority
   const WriteOptions write_options;
 
@@ -6041,6 +6042,7 @@ Status DBImpl::IngestExternalFiles(
     if (two_write_queues_) {
       nonmem_write_thread_.EnterUnbatched(&nonmem_w, &mutex_);
     }
+    PERF_TIMER_GUARD(file_ingestion_blocking_live_writes_nanos);
 
     // When unordered_write is enabled, the keys are writing to memtable in an
     // unordered way. If the ingestion job checks memtable key range before the
@@ -6203,6 +6205,7 @@ Status DBImpl::IngestExternalFiles(
       nonmem_write_thread_.ExitUnbatched(&nonmem_w);
     }
     write_thread_.ExitUnbatched(&w);
+    PERF_TIMER_STOP(file_ingestion_blocking_live_writes_nanos);
 
     if (status.ok()) {
       for (auto& job : ingestion_jobs) {
diff --git a/db/external_sst_file_basic_test.cc b/db/external_sst_file_basic_test.cc
index a6c42cbd6e1..cf46e0af199 100644
--- a/db/external_sst_file_basic_test.cc
+++ b/db/external_sst_file_basic_test.cc
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 #include "port/stack_trace.h"
 #include "rocksdb/advanced_options.h"
 #include "rocksdb/options.h"
+#include "rocksdb/perf_context.h"
 #include "rocksdb/sst_file_writer.h"
 #include "test_util/testharness.h"
 #include "test_util/testutil.h"
@@ -261,13 +262,28 @@ TEST_F(ExternalSSTFileBasicTest, Basic) {
 
   DestroyAndReopen(options);
   // Add file using file path
+  SetPerfLevel(kEnableTimeExceptForMutex);
+  PerfContext* perf_ctx = get_perf_context();
+  perf_ctx->Reset();
   s = DeprecatedAddFile({file1});
+  ASSERT_GT(perf_context.file_ingestion_nanos, 0);
+  ASSERT_GT(perf_context.file_ingestion_blocking_live_writes_nanos, 0);
   ASSERT_OK(s) << s.ToString();
   ASSERT_EQ(db_->GetLatestSequenceNumber(), 0U);
   for (int k = 0; k < 100; k++) {
     ASSERT_EQ(Get(Key(k)), Key(k) + "_val");
   }
 
+  // Re-ingest the file just to check the perf context not enabled at and below
+  // kEnableWait.
+  SetPerfLevel(kEnableWait);
+  perf_ctx->Reset();
+  IngestExternalFileOptions opts;
+  opts.allow_global_seqno = true;
+  opts.allow_blocking_flush = true;
+  ASSERT_OK(db_->IngestExternalFile({file1}, opts));
+  ASSERT_EQ(perf_context.file_ingestion_nanos, 0);
+  ASSERT_EQ(perf_context.file_ingestion_blocking_live_writes_nanos, 0);
   DestroyAndRecreateExternalSSTFilesDir();
 }
 
diff --git a/include/rocksdb/iostats_context.h b/include/rocksdb/iostats_context.h
index 559d44c57a6..592bc0c4670 100644
--- a/include/rocksdb/iostats_context.h
+++ b/include/rocksdb/iostats_context.h
@@ -10,8 +10,18 @@
 
 #include "rocksdb/perf_level.h"
 
+/*
+ * NOTE:
+ * If you plan to add new metrics, please read documentation in perf_level.h and
+ * try to come up with a metric name that follows the naming conventions
+ * mentioned there. It helps to indicate the metric's starting enabling P
+ * erfLevel. Document this starting PerfLevel if the metric name cannot meet the
+ * naming conventions.
+ */
+
 // A thread local context for gathering io-stats efficiently and transparently.
 // Use SetPerfLevel(PerfLevel::kEnableTime) to enable time stats.
+//
 
 namespace ROCKSDB_NAMESPACE {
 
diff --git a/include/rocksdb/perf_context.h b/include/rocksdb/perf_context.h
index 42452be1517..5647eba5bdd 100644
--- a/include/rocksdb/perf_context.h
+++ b/include/rocksdb/perf_context.h
@@ -20,6 +20,12 @@ namespace ROCKSDB_NAMESPACE {
  * add/remove fields to this structure, builds would fail. The way to fix the
  * builds would be to add the appropriate fields to the
  * DEF_PERF_CONTEXT_LEVEL_METRICS() macro in the perf_context.cc file.
+ *
+ * If you plan to add new metrics, please read documentation in perf_level.h and
+ * try to come up with a metric name that follows the naming conventions
+ * mentioned there. It helps to indicate the metric's starting enabling P
+ * erfLevel. Document this starting PerfLevel if the metric name cannot meet the
+ * naming conventions.
  */
 
 // Break down performance counters by level and store per-level perf context in
@@ -189,6 +195,7 @@ struct PerfContextBase {
   // total nanos spent on writing to WAL
   uint64_t write_wal_time;
   // total nanos spent on writing to mem tables
+  // This metric gets collected starting from PerfLevel::kEnableWait
   uint64_t write_memtable_time;
   // total nanos spent on delaying or throttling write
   uint64_t write_delay_time;
@@ -230,6 +237,8 @@ struct PerfContextBase {
   uint64_t bloom_sst_miss_count;
 
   // Time spent waiting on key locks in transaction lock manager.
+  // This metric gets collected starting from
+  // PerfLevel::kEnableTimeExceptForMutex
   uint64_t key_lock_wait_time;
   // number of times acquiring a lock was blocked by another transaction.
   uint64_t key_lock_wait_count;
@@ -275,6 +284,12 @@ struct PerfContextBase {
   uint64_t decrypt_data_nanos;
 
   uint64_t number_async_seek;
+
+  // Metrics for file ingestion
+  // Time spent end to end in an IngestExternalFile call.
+  uint64_t file_ingestion_nanos;
+  // Time IngestExternalFile blocked live writes.
+  uint64_t file_ingestion_blocking_live_writes_nanos;
 };
 
 struct PerfContext : public PerfContextBase {
diff --git a/include/rocksdb/perf_level.h b/include/rocksdb/perf_level.h
index abd40faac25..0ebf1c57a41 100644
--- a/include/rocksdb/perf_level.h
+++ b/include/rocksdb/perf_level.h
@@ -14,19 +14,39 @@
 namespace ROCKSDB_NAMESPACE {
 
 // How much perf stats to collect. Affects perf_context and iostats_context.
+// These levels are incremental, which means a new set of metrics will get
+// collected when PerfLevel is upgraded from level n to level n + 1.
+// Each level's documentation specifies the incremental set of metrics it
+// enables. As an example, kEnableWait will also enable collecting all the
+// metrics that kEnableCount enables, and its documentation only specifies which
+// extra metrics it also enables.
+//
+// These metrics are identified with some naming conventions, but not all
+// metrics follow exactly this convention. The metrics' own documentation should
+// be source of truth if they diverge.
 enum PerfLevel : unsigned char {
-  kUninitialized = 0,             // unknown setting
-  kDisable = 1,                   // disable perf stats
-  kEnableCount = 2,               // enable only count stats
-  kEnableWait = 3,                // measure time spent by user threads
-                                  // blocked in RocksDB, and not external
-                                  // resources such as mutexes and IO
-  kEnableTimeExceptForMutex = 4,  // Other than count stats, also enable time
-                                  // stats except for mutexes
-  // Other than time, also measure CPU time counters. Still don't measure
-  // time (neither wall time nor CPU time) for mutexes.
+  // Unknown setting
+  kUninitialized = 0,
+  // Disable perf stats
+  kDisable = 1,
+  // Starts enabling count metrics. These metrics usually don't have time
+  // related keywords, and are likely to have keywords like "count" or "byte".
+  kEnableCount = 2,
+  // Starts enabling metrics that measure time spent by user threads blocked in
+  // RocksDB waiting for RocksDB to take actions, as opposed to waiting for
+  // external resources such as mutexes and IO.
+  // These metrics usually have this pattern: "_[wait|delay]_*_[time|nanos]".
+  kEnableWait = 3,
+  // Starts enabling metrics that measure the end to end time of an operation.
+  // These metrics' names have keywords "time" or "nanos". Check other time
+  // measuring metrics with similar but more specific naming conventions.
+  kEnableTimeExceptForMutex = 4,
+  // Starts enabling metrics that measure the cpu time of an operation. These
+  // metrics' name usually this pattern "_cpu_*_[time|nanos]".
   kEnableTimeAndCPUTimeExceptForMutex = 5,
-  kEnableTime = 6,  // enable count and time stats
+  // Starts enabling metrics that measure time for mutex. These metrics' name
+  // usually have this pattern: "_[mutex|condition]_*_[time|nanos]".
+  kEnableTime = 6,
   kOutOfBounds = 7  // N.B. Must always be the last value!
 };
 
diff --git a/monitoring/perf_context.cc b/monitoring/perf_context.cc
index 2f25f68c238..59f5f19f66d 100644
--- a/monitoring/perf_context.cc
+++ b/monitoring/perf_context.cc
@@ -153,7 +153,9 @@ struct PerfContextByLevelInt {
   defCmd(iter_seek_count)                          \
   defCmd(encrypt_data_nanos)                       \
   defCmd(decrypt_data_nanos)                       \
-  defCmd(number_async_seek)
+  defCmd(number_async_seek)                        \
+  defCmd(file_ingestion_nanos)                     \
+  defCmd(file_ingestion_blocking_live_writes_nanos)
 // clang-format on
 
 struct PerfContextInt {
diff --git a/unreleased_history/public_api_changes/ingestion_time_in_perf_context.md b/unreleased_history/public_api_changes/ingestion_time_in_perf_context.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5184ecc23ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/unreleased_history/public_api_changes/ingestion_time_in_perf_context.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Add `file_ingestion_nanos` and `file_ingestion_blocking_live_writes_nanos` in PerfContext to observe file ingestions
\ No newline at end of file