diff --git a/Documentation/config/add.txt b/Documentation/config/add.txt
index 4d753f006ec1ef..c9f748f81cb1c7 100644
--- a/Documentation/config/add.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config/add.txt
@@ -5,3 +5,8 @@ add.ignore-errors (deprecated)::
 	option of linkgit:git-add[1].  `add.ignore-errors` is deprecated,
 	as it does not follow the usual naming convention for configuration
 	variables.
+
+add.interactive.useBuiltin::
+	[EXPERIMENTAL] Set to `true` to use the experimental built-in
+	implementation of the interactive version of linkgit:git-add[1]
+	instead of the Perl script version. Is `false` by default.
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 58b92af54b2af4..6c4a1e0ee5c49e 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -823,6 +823,7 @@ LIB_H := $(sort $(patsubst ./%,%,$(shell git ls-files '*.h' ':!t/' ':!Documentat
 	-name '*.h' -print)))
 
 LIB_OBJS += abspath.o
+LIB_OBJS += add-interactive.o
 LIB_OBJS += advice.o
 LIB_OBJS += alias.o
 LIB_OBJS += alloc.o
diff --git a/add-interactive.c b/add-interactive.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..482e458dc60f5c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/add-interactive.c
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#include "cache.h"
+#include "add-interactive.h"
+
+int run_add_i(struct repository *r, const struct pathspec *ps)
+{
+	die(_("No commands are available in the built-in `git add -i` yet!"));
+}
diff --git a/add-interactive.h b/add-interactive.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..7043b8741d7bd3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/add-interactive.h
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#ifndef ADD_INTERACTIVE_H
+#define ADD_INTERACTIVE_H
+
+struct repository;
+struct pathspec;
+int run_add_i(struct repository *r, const struct pathspec *ps);
+
+#endif
diff --git a/builtin/add.c b/builtin/add.c
index dd18e5c9b67038..d4686d5218a7b9 100644
--- a/builtin/add.c
+++ b/builtin/add.c
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 #include "bulk-checkin.h"
 #include "argv-array.h"
 #include "submodule.h"
+#include "add-interactive.h"
 
 static const char * const builtin_add_usage[] = {
 	N_("git add [<options>] [--] <pathspec>..."),
@@ -185,6 +186,16 @@ int run_add_interactive(const char *revision, const char *patch_mode,
 {
 	int status, i;
 	struct argv_array argv = ARGV_ARRAY_INIT;
+	int use_builtin_add_i =
+		git_env_bool("GIT_TEST_ADD_I_USE_BUILTIN", -1);
+
+	if (!patch_mode) {
+		if (use_builtin_add_i < 0)
+			git_config_get_bool("add.interactive.usebuiltin",
+					    &use_builtin_add_i);
+		if (use_builtin_add_i == 1)
+			return !!run_add_i(the_repository, pathspec);
+	}
 
 	argv_array_push(&argv, "add--interactive");
 	if (patch_mode)
@@ -319,6 +330,7 @@ static int add_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 		ignore_add_errors = git_config_bool(var, value);
 		return 0;
 	}
+
 	return git_default_config(var, value, cb);
 }
 
diff --git a/t/README b/t/README
index 60d5b77bccd952..5132ec83f8590b 100644
--- a/t/README
+++ b/t/README
@@ -397,6 +397,10 @@ GIT_TEST_STASH_USE_BUILTIN=<boolean>, when false, disables the
 built-in version of git-stash. See 'stash.useBuiltin' in
 git-config(1).
 
+GIT_TEST_ADD_I_USE_BUILTIN=<boolean>, when true, enables the
+built-in version of git add -i. See 'add.interactive.useBuiltin' in
+git-config(1).
+
 GIT_TEST_INDEX_THREADS=<n> enables exercising the multi-threaded loading
 of the index for the whole test suite by bypassing the default number of
 cache entries and thread minimums. Setting this to 1 will make the