diff --git a/java/com/google/gerrit/server/account/VersionedAccountQueries.java b/java/com/google/gerrit/server/account/VersionedAccountQueries.java
index daf7100568..7b5e5ceece 100644
--- a/java/com/google/gerrit/server/account/VersionedAccountQueries.java
+++ b/java/com/google/gerrit/server/account/VersionedAccountQueries.java
@@ -14,11 +14,17 @@
 
 package com.google.gerrit.server.account;
 
+import static java.util.stream.Collectors.joining;
+
+import com.google.common.base.Strings;
 import com.google.common.flogger.FluentLogger;
 import com.google.gerrit.reviewdb.client.Account;
 import com.google.gerrit.reviewdb.client.RefNames;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.git.ValidationError;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.git.meta.VersionedMetaData;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.errors.ConfigInvalidException;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.CommitBuilder;
 
@@ -46,6 +52,16 @@ public class VersionedAccountQueries extends VersionedMetaData {
     return queryList;
   }
 
+  public void setQueryList(String text) throws IOException, ConfigInvalidException {
+    List<ValidationError> errors = new ArrayList<>();
+    QueryList newQueryList = QueryList.parse(text, error -> errors.add(error));
+    if (!errors.isEmpty()) {
+      String messages = errors.stream().map(ValidationError::getMessage).collect(joining(", "));
+      throw new ConfigInvalidException("Invalid named queries: " + messages);
+    }
+    queryList = newQueryList;
+  }
+
   @Override
   protected void onLoad() throws IOException, ConfigInvalidException {
     queryList =
@@ -58,6 +74,10 @@ public class VersionedAccountQueries extends VersionedMetaData {
 
   @Override
   protected boolean onSave(CommitBuilder commit) throws IOException, ConfigInvalidException {
-    throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Cannot yet save named queries");
+    if (Strings.isNullOrEmpty(commit.getMessage())) {
+      commit.setMessage("Updated named queries\n");
+    }
+    saveUTF8(QueryList.FILE_NAME, queryList.asText());
+    return true;
   }
 }
diff --git a/javatests/com/google/gerrit/server/query/change/AbstractQueryChangesTest.java b/javatests/com/google/gerrit/server/query/change/AbstractQueryChangesTest.java
index 350c6d22ce..fb5d93d33f 100644
--- a/javatests/com/google/gerrit/server/query/change/AbstractQueryChangesTest.java
+++ b/javatests/com/google/gerrit/server/query/change/AbstractQueryChangesTest.java
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ import com.google.gerrit.server.account.AccountManager;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.account.Accounts;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.account.AccountsUpdate;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.account.AuthRequest;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.account.VersionedAccountQueries;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.account.externalids.ExternalId;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.change.ChangeInserter;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.change.ChangeTriplet;
@@ -2953,19 +2954,19 @@ public abstract class AbstractQueryChangesTest extends GerritServerTests {
     Change change1 = insert(repo, newChange(repo));
     Change change2 = insert(repo, newChangeForBranch(repo, "stable"));
 
-    String queries =
+    String queryListText =
         "query1\tproject:repo\n"
             + "query2\tproject:repo status:open\n"
             + "query3\tproject:repo branch:stable\n"
             + "query4\tproject:repo branch:other";
 
     try (TestRepository<Repo> allUsers =
-        new TestRepository<>(repoManager.openRepository(allUsersName))) {
-      String refsUsers = RefNames.refsUsers(userId);
-      allUsers.branch(refsUsers).commit().add("queries", queries).create();
-
-      Ref userRef = allUsers.getRepository().exactRef(refsUsers);
-      assertThat(userRef).isNotNull();
+            new TestRepository<>(repoManager.openRepository(allUsersName));
+        MetaDataUpdate md = metaDataUpdateFactory.create(allUsersName)) {
+      VersionedAccountQueries queries = VersionedAccountQueries.forUser(userId);
+      queries.load(md);
+      queries.setQueryList(queryListText);
+      queries.commit(md);
     }
 
     assertThatQueryException("query:foo").hasMessageThat().isEqualTo("Unknown named query: foo");