diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index c4c7d061430..fadad33adf5 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -2115,6 +2115,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "gix-features 0.38.2",
  "gix-fs 0.11.3",
  "gix-hash 0.14.2",
+ "gix-hashtable 0.5.2",
  "gix-object 0.44.0",
  "gix-pack",
  "gix-path 0.10.10",
diff --git a/gix-odb/Cargo.toml b/gix-odb/Cargo.toml
index ce87448814c..bad6f16033b 100644
--- a/gix-odb/Cargo.toml
+++ b/gix-odb/Cargo.toml
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ serde = ["dep:serde", "gix-hash/serde", "gix-object/serde", "gix-pack/serde"]
 
 [dependencies]
 gix-features = { version = "^0.38.2", path = "../gix-features", features = ["rustsha1", "walkdir", "zlib", "crc32"] }
+gix-hashtable = { version = "^0.5.2", path = "../gix-hashtable" }
 gix-hash = { version = "^0.14.2", path = "../gix-hash" }
 gix-date = { version = "^0.9.0", path = "../gix-date" }
 gix-path = { version = "^0.10.10", path = "../gix-path" }
diff --git a/gix-odb/src/lib.rs b/gix-odb/src/lib.rs
index 40d7c2aea90..aaedc74a175 100644
--- a/gix-odb/src/lib.rs
+++ b/gix-odb/src/lib.rs
@@ -66,6 +66,9 @@ pub fn sink(object_hash: gix_hash::Kind) -> Sink {
     }
 }
 
+///
+pub mod memory;
+
 mod sink;
 
 ///
diff --git a/gix-odb/src/memory.rs b/gix-odb/src/memory.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6bdd6e0c9c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gix-odb/src/memory.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,131 @@
+use crate::find::Header;
+use gix_object::Data;
+use std::cell::RefCell;
+use std::ops::{Deref, DerefMut};
+
+/// An object database to read from any implementation but write to memory.
+/// Previously written objects can be returned from memory upon query which
+/// makes the view of objects consistent, but it's impact temporary unless
+/// [`memory objects`](Proxy::memory) are persisted in a separate step.
+///
+/// It's possible to turn off the memory by removing it from the instance.
+pub struct Proxy<T> {
+    /// The actual odb implementation
+    inner: T,
+    /// The kind of hash to produce when writing new objects.
+    object_hash: gix_hash::Kind,
+    /// The storage for in-memory objects.
+    /// If `None`, the proxy will always read from and write-through to `inner`.
+    pub memory: Option<RefCell<Storage>>,
+}
+
+/// Lifecycle
+impl<T> Proxy<T> {
+    /// Create a new instance using `odb` as actual object provider, with an empty in-memory store for
+    /// objects that are to be written.
+    /// Use `object_hash` to determine the kind of hash to produce when writing new objects.
+    pub fn new(odb: T, object_hash: gix_hash::Kind) -> Proxy<T> {
+        Proxy {
+            inner: odb,
+            object_hash,
+            memory: Some(Default::default()),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl<T> gix_object::Find for Proxy<T>
+where
+    T: gix_object::Find,
+{
+    fn try_find<'a>(
+        &self,
+        id: &gix_hash::oid,
+        buffer: &'a mut Vec<u8>,
+    ) -> Result<Option<Data<'a>>, gix_object::find::Error> {
+        if let Some(map) = self.memory.as_ref() {
+            let map = map.borrow();
+            if let Some((kind, data)) = map.get(id) {
+                buffer.clear();
+                buffer.extend_from_slice(data);
+                return Ok(Some(Data {
+                    kind: *kind,
+                    data: &*buffer,
+                }));
+            }
+        }
+        self.inner.try_find(id, buffer)
+    }
+}
+
+impl<T> crate::Header for Proxy<T>
+where
+    T: crate::Header,
+{
+    fn try_header(&self, id: &gix_hash::oid) -> Result<Option<Header>, gix_object::find::Error> {
+        if let Some(map) = self.memory.as_ref() {
+            let map = map.borrow();
+            if let Some((kind, data)) = map.get(id) {
+                return Ok(Some(Header::Loose {
+                    kind: *kind,
+                    size: data.len() as u64,
+                }));
+            }
+        }
+        self.inner.try_header(id)
+    }
+}
+
+impl<T> crate::Write for Proxy<T>
+where
+    T: crate::Write,
+{
+    fn write_stream(
+        &self,
+        kind: gix_object::Kind,
+        size: u64,
+        from: &mut dyn std::io::Read,
+    ) -> Result<gix_hash::ObjectId, crate::write::Error> {
+        let Some(map) = self.memory.as_ref() else {
+            return self.inner.write_stream(kind, size, from);
+        };
+
+        let mut buf = Vec::new();
+        from.read_to_end(&mut buf)?;
+
+        let id = gix_object::compute_hash(self.object_hash, kind, &buf);
+        map.borrow_mut().insert(id, (kind, buf));
+        Ok(id)
+    }
+}
+
+impl<T> Deref for Proxy<T> {
+    type Target = T;
+
+    fn deref(&self) -> &Self::Target {
+        &self.inner
+    }
+}
+
+impl<T> DerefMut for Proxy<T> {
+    fn deref_mut(&mut self) -> &mut Self::Target {
+        &mut self.inner
+    }
+}
+
+/// A mapping between an object id and all data corresponding to an object, acting like a `HashMap<ObjectID, (Kind, Data)>`.
+#[derive(Default, Debug, Clone, Eq, PartialEq)]
+pub struct Storage(gix_hashtable::HashMap<gix_hash::ObjectId, (gix_object::Kind, Vec<u8>)>);
+
+impl Deref for Storage {
+    type Target = gix_hashtable::HashMap<gix_hash::ObjectId, (gix_object::Kind, Vec<u8>)>;
+
+    fn deref(&self) -> &Self::Target {
+        &self.0
+    }
+}
+
+impl DerefMut for Storage {
+    fn deref_mut(&mut self) -> &mut Self::Target {
+        &mut self.0
+    }
+}
diff --git a/gix-odb/tests/odb/memory.rs b/gix-odb/tests/odb/memory.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7e984edc970
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gix-odb/tests/odb/memory.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+use crate::odb::hex_to_id;
+use gix_object::{tree, FindExt};
+use gix_odb::{Header, HeaderExt, Write};
+use gix_testtools::tempfile::TempDir;
+
+#[test]
+fn without_memory() -> crate::Result {
+    let (mut odb, _tmp) = db_rw()?;
+    let mut buf = Vec::new();
+    let mem = odb.memory.take().expect("it starts out with memory set").into_inner();
+    assert_eq!(mem.len(), 0, "no object is stored initially");
+    let existing = hex_to_id("21d3ba9a26b790a4858d67754ae05d04dfce4d0c");
+    let tree = odb.find_tree(&existing, &mut buf).expect("present and valid");
+    assert_eq!(tree.entries.len(), 1);
+    odb.header(existing).expect("header can be found just the same");
+
+    let mut tree = tree.to_owned();
+    tree.entries.push(tree::Entry {
+        mode: tree::EntryKind::Blob.into(),
+        filename: "z-for-sorting_another-file-with-same-content".into(),
+        oid: existing,
+    });
+    let new_tree_id = odb.write(&tree)?;
+    assert_eq!(new_tree_id, hex_to_id("249b0b4106a5e9e7875e446a26468e22ec47a05c"));
+    let actual = odb.header(new_tree_id).expect("header of new objects can be found");
+    assert_eq!(actual.kind(), gix_object::Kind::Tree);
+    assert_eq!(actual.size(), 104);
+
+    let new_tree = odb
+        .find_tree(&new_tree_id, &mut buf)
+        .expect("new tree is also available as object")
+        .to_owned();
+    assert_eq!(new_tree, tree);
+
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn with_memory() -> crate::Result {
+    let mut odb = db()?;
+    assert_eq!(
+        (*odb).iter()?.count(),
+        6,
+        "let's be sure we didn't accidentally write anything"
+    );
+    let mut buf = Vec::new();
+    let existing = hex_to_id("21d3ba9a26b790a4858d67754ae05d04dfce4d0c");
+    let tree = odb.find_tree(&existing, &mut buf).expect("present and valid");
+    assert_eq!(tree.entries.len(), 1);
+    odb.header(existing).expect("header can be found just the same");
+    assert_eq!(
+        odb.memory.as_ref().unwrap().borrow().len(),
+        0,
+        "nothing is stored when fetching objects - it's not an object cache"
+    );
+
+    let mut tree = tree.to_owned();
+    tree.entries.push(tree::Entry {
+        mode: tree::EntryKind::Blob.into(),
+        filename: "z-for-sorting_another-file-with-same-content".into(),
+        oid: existing,
+    });
+    let new_tree_id = odb.write(&tree)?;
+    assert_eq!(new_tree_id, hex_to_id("249b0b4106a5e9e7875e446a26468e22ec47a05c"));
+    let actual = odb.header(new_tree_id).expect("header of new objects can be found");
+    assert_eq!(actual.kind(), gix_object::Kind::Tree);
+    assert_eq!(actual.size(), 104);
+
+    let new_tree = odb
+        .find_tree(&new_tree_id, &mut buf)
+        .expect("new tree is also available as object")
+        .to_owned();
+    assert_eq!(new_tree, tree);
+
+    let mem = odb.memory.take().expect("memory is still available").into_inner();
+    assert_eq!(mem.len(), 1, "one new object was just written");
+
+    assert_eq!(
+        odb.try_header(&new_tree_id)?,
+        None,
+        "without memory, the object can't be found anymore"
+    );
+
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+fn db() -> crate::Result<gix_odb::memory::Proxy<gix_odb::Handle>> {
+    let odb = gix_odb::at(
+        gix_testtools::scripted_fixture_read_only_standalone("repo_with_loose_objects.sh")?.join(".git/objects"),
+    )?;
+    Ok(gix_odb::memory::Proxy::new(odb, gix_hash::Kind::Sha1))
+}
+
+fn db_rw() -> crate::Result<(gix_odb::memory::Proxy<gix_odb::Handle>, TempDir)> {
+    let tmp = gix_testtools::scripted_fixture_writable_standalone("repo_with_loose_objects.sh")?;
+    let odb = gix_odb::at(tmp.path().join(".git/objects"))?;
+    Ok((gix_odb::memory::Proxy::new(odb, gix_hash::Kind::Sha1), tmp))
+}
diff --git a/gix-odb/tests/odb/mod.rs b/gix-odb/tests/odb/mod.rs
index 6e4b1506bae..353bb78ee66 100644
--- a/gix-odb/tests/odb/mod.rs
+++ b/gix-odb/tests/odb/mod.rs
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ fn db_small_packs() -> gix_odb::Handle {
 pub mod alternate;
 pub mod find;
 pub mod header;
+pub mod memory;
 pub mod regression;
 pub mod sink;
 pub mod store;