diff --git a/Documentation/rest-api-projects.txt b/Documentation/rest-api-projects.txt
index a909ab4c44..a25c7bba2f 100644
--- a/Documentation/rest-api-projects.txt
+++ b/Documentation/rest-api-projects.txt
@@ -2116,6 +2116,8 @@ collection.
 |Field Name      ||Description
 |`show_progress` |`false` if not set|
 Whether progress information should be shown.
+|`aggressive`    |`false` if not set|
+Whether an aggressive garbage collection should be done.
 |=============================
 
 [[head-input]]
diff --git a/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/git/GarbageCollection.java b/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/git/GarbageCollection.java
index 24af14d8d8..55672cf942 100644
--- a/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/git/GarbageCollection.java
+++ b/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/git/GarbageCollection.java
@@ -63,6 +63,11 @@ public class GarbageCollection {
 
   public GarbageCollectionResult run(List<Project.NameKey> projectNames,
       PrintWriter writer) {
+    return run(projectNames, false, writer);
+  }
+
+  public GarbageCollectionResult run(List<Project.NameKey> projectNames,
+      boolean aggressive, PrintWriter writer) {
     GarbageCollectionResult result = new GarbageCollectionResult();
     Set<Project.NameKey> projectsToGc = gcQueue.addAll(projectNames);
     for (Project.NameKey projectName : Sets.difference(
@@ -74,9 +79,10 @@ public class GarbageCollection {
       Repository repo = null;
       try {
         repo = repoManager.openRepository(p);
-        logGcConfiguration(p, repo);
+        logGcConfiguration(p, repo, aggressive);
         print(writer, "collecting garbage for \"" + p + "\":\n");
         GarbageCollectCommand gc = Git.wrap(repo).gc();
+        gc.setAggressive(aggressive);
         logGcInfo(p, "before:", gc.getStatistics());
         gc.setProgressMonitor(writer != null ? new TextProgressMonitor(writer)
             : NullProgressMonitor.INSTANCE);
@@ -123,9 +129,10 @@ public class GarbageCollection {
   }
 
   private static void logGcConfiguration(Project.NameKey projectName,
-      Repository repo) {
+      Repository repo, boolean aggressive) {
     StringBuilder b = new StringBuilder();
     Config cfg = repo.getConfig();
+    b.append("gc.aggressive=").append(aggressive).append("; ");
     b.append(formatConfigValues(cfg, ConfigConstants.CONFIG_GC_SECTION, null));
     for (String subsection : cfg.getSubsections(ConfigConstants.CONFIG_GC_SECTION)) {
       b.append(formatConfigValues(cfg, ConfigConstants.CONFIG_GC_SECTION,
diff --git a/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/project/GarbageCollect.java b/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/project/GarbageCollect.java
index fe1086b6f1..a5a96b16ce 100644
--- a/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/project/GarbageCollect.java
+++ b/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/project/GarbageCollect.java
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ public class GarbageCollect implements RestModifyView<ProjectResource, Input>,
     UiAction<ProjectResource> {
   public static class Input {
     public boolean showProgress;
+    public boolean aggressive;
   }
 
   private final boolean canGC;
@@ -68,8 +69,10 @@ public class GarbageCollect implements RestModifyView<ProjectResource, Input>,
           }
         };
         try {
-          GarbageCollectionResult result = garbageCollectionFactory.create().run(
-              Collections.singletonList(rsrc.getNameKey()), input.showProgress ? writer : null);
+          GarbageCollectionResult result =
+              garbageCollectionFactory.create().run(
+                  Collections.singletonList(rsrc.getNameKey()), input.aggressive,
+                  input.showProgress ? writer : null);
           String msg = "Garbage collection completed successfully.";
           if (result.hasErrors()) {
             for (GarbageCollectionResult.Error e : result.getErrors()) {