diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 48fa2ae..e6119e2 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 # syntax=docker/dockerfile:1.10.0@sha256:865e5dd094beca432e8c0a1d5e1c465db5f998dca4e439981029b3b81fb39ed5
 FROM ksmanis/stage3:20240930@sha256:8e8a7c86ab167ea0b740664492e78dc97c33cc59f6fff13bf4ac40bca7804a37 AS distcc-builder
+ARG CCACHE_DIR=/var/cache/ccache
+ENV CCACHE_DIR=$CCACHE_DIR
 RUN --mount=type=bind,from=ksmanis/gentoo-distcc:tcp,source=/var/cache/binpkgs,target=/cache \
     --mount=type=bind,from=ksmanis/portage,source=/var/db/repos/gentoo,target=/var/db/repos/gentoo \
     set -eux; \
@@ -8,10 +10,18 @@ RUN --mount=type=bind,from=ksmanis/gentoo-distcc:tcp,source=/var/cache/binpkgs,t
     emerge --info; \
     emerge distcc; \
     distcc --version; \
+    emerge ccache; \
+    ccache --version; \
+    echo "CCACHE_DIR=${CCACHE_DIR}" > /etc/env.d/02distcc-ssh-ccache; \
+    env-update; \
+    mkdir "${CCACHE_DIR}"; \
+    chmod 0775 "${CCACHE_DIR}"; \
+    chown distcc:distcc "${CCACHE_DIR}"; \
     emerge --oneshot gentoolkit; \
     eclean packages; \
     CLEAN_DELAY=0 emerge --depclean gentoolkit; \
     find /var/cache/distfiles/ -mindepth 1 -delete -print
+VOLUME $CCACHE_DIR
 
 FROM distcc-builder AS distcc-tcp
 ARG TARGETPLATFORM
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2f064c4..eeb4e1c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -105,6 +105,63 @@ through the optional `SSH_USERNAME` environment variable:
 docker run -d -p 30022:22 -e SSH_USERNAME=bob -e AUTHORIZED_KEYS="..." --name gentoo-distcc-ssh --rm ksmanis/gentoo-distcc:ssh
 ```
 
+### Persistent [ccache(1)](https://ccache.dev/manual/latest.html)
+
+Ccache speeds up recompilation by caching the result of previous compilations
+and detecting when the same compilation is being done again. That can help save
+time on compilation if you end up recompiling for any reason i.e. because you
+have multiple gentoo machines which have an overlapping package selection.
+
+Check the [gentoo wiki](https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Ccache) to learn more. If
+you only have one gentoo machine and it has enough disk space to host its own
+cache, you might be better off with one local ccache on that machine with
+`FEATURES="ccache"`. If you want to also add a cache to the container, keep
+reading.
+
+To enable the use of `ccache` you have to set `DISTCC_CCACHE_ENABLE` to `1`. And
+to further make it persist over multiple container runs you need to mount a
+container volume or a host directory to `/var/cache/ccache`.
+
+#### Example with a persistent ccache in a docker volume
+
+Create a new volume for persistency:
+
+```shell
+docker volume create gentoo-distcc-ccache
+```
+
+```shell
+docker run -d -p 3632:3632 --name gentoo-distcc-tcp --rm -v gentoo-distcc-ccache:/var/cache/ccache/:rw -e DISTCC_CCACHE_ENABLE=1 ksmanis/gentoo-distcc:tcp
+```
+
+For the ssh variant of the container images it works exactly the same way.
+
+#### Notes on ccache
+
+To check the status of the cache you can run `ccache -s` with the container
+image like that:
+
+```shell
+docker run -t -i --rm -v gentoo-distcc-ccache:/var/cache/ccache/:rw ksmanis/gentoo-distcc:tcp watch -d ccache -s
+```
+
+In case you created a container with the ssh variant, you can also ssh into it
+and run `ccache -s`.
+
+```shell
+ssh localhost-distcc ccache -s
+```
+
+You should see the cache filling up and if you compile the same package twice
+you should see cache hits coming in. If you are using `FEATURES="ccache"` from
+gentoo you might want to disable it for a test. Otherwise local cache hits will
+prevent remote compilation.
+
+When you choose a bind-mount the cache is a shared folder between the host and
+the container. If both want to access it you might have to play with `chown` and
+`CCACHE_UMASK` (or `umask` in ccache.conf). Note that a world writable cache
+will have security implications on all systems using distcc.
+
 ## Testing
 
 A manual way to test the containers is to compile a sample C file:
diff --git a/docker-entrypoint-ssh.sh b/docker-entrypoint-ssh.sh
index 785e573..e4bdb6a 100755
--- a/docker-entrypoint-ssh.sh
+++ b/docker-entrypoint-ssh.sh
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ if [ "$1" = "sshd" ]; then
     fi
     # Execute sshd using absolute path
     shift
+    if [ "${DISTCC_CCACHE_ENABLE}" = 1 ]; then
+        echo "PATH=/usr/lib/ccache/bin" >> /etc/env.d/02distcc-ssh-ccache
+        env-update
+    fi
     exec /usr/sbin/sshd "$@"
 fi
 
diff --git a/docker-entrypoint-tcp.sh b/docker-entrypoint-tcp.sh
index a70d5a7..1433c4b 100755
--- a/docker-entrypoint-tcp.sh
+++ b/docker-entrypoint-tcp.sh
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ set -e
 # * if hyphenated flag arguments (e.g., '-f', '-foo', or '--foo') were
 #   passed to the Docker command line
 if [ "$#" -eq 0 ] || [ "${1#-}" != "$1" ]; then
+    if [ "${DISTCC_CCACHE_ENABLE}" = 1 ]; then
+        export PATH="/usr/lib/ccache/bin:$PATH"
+    fi
     exec distccd --daemon --no-detach --log-level notice --log-stderr --allow-private "$@"
 fi