diff --git a/Documentation/config-gerrit.txt b/Documentation/config-gerrit.txt
index 35fc3da2c6..59175b6425 100644
--- a/Documentation/config-gerrit.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config-gerrit.txt
@@ -1695,6 +1695,14 @@ pool by a simple FIFO scheduling system.
 +
 By default, 1 plus the number of CPUs available to the JVM.
 
+[sshd.commandStartThreads]]sshd.commandStartThreads::
++
+Number of threads used to parse a command line submitted by a client
+over SSH for execution, create the internal data structures used by
+that command, and schedule it for execution on another thread.
++
+By default, 2.
+
 [[sshd.maxAuthTries]]sshd.maxAuthTries::
 +
 Maximum number of authentication attempts before the server
diff --git a/gerrit-sshd/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/sshd/CommandFactoryProvider.java b/gerrit-sshd/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/sshd/CommandFactoryProvider.java
index b6bb3600d4..89338c4782 100644
--- a/gerrit-sshd/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/sshd/CommandFactoryProvider.java
+++ b/gerrit-sshd/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/sshd/CommandFactoryProvider.java
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
 
 package com.google.gerrit.sshd;
 
+import com.google.gerrit.server.config.GerritServerConfig;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.git.WorkQueue;
 import com.google.gerrit.sshd.SshScope.Context;
 import com.google.inject.Inject;
 import com.google.inject.Provider;
@@ -24,26 +26,38 @@ import org.apache.sshd.server.Environment;
 import org.apache.sshd.server.ExitCallback;
 import org.apache.sshd.server.SessionAware;
 import org.apache.sshd.server.session.ServerSession;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Config;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.OutputStream;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.concurrent.Executor;
 
 /**
  * Creates a CommandFactory using commands registered by {@link CommandModule}.
  */
 class CommandFactoryProvider implements Provider<CommandFactory> {
+  private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory
+      .getLogger(CommandFactoryProvider.class);
+
   private final DispatchCommandProvider dispatcher;
   private final SshLog log;
+  private final Executor startExecutor;
 
   @Inject
   CommandFactoryProvider(
       @CommandName(Commands.ROOT) final DispatchCommandProvider d,
+      @GerritServerConfig final Config cfg, final WorkQueue workQueue,
       final SshLog l) {
     dispatcher = d;
     log = l;
+
+    int threads = cfg.getInt("sshd","commandStartThreads", 2);
+    startExecutor = workQueue.createQueue(threads, "SshCommandStart");
   }
 
   @Override
@@ -62,6 +76,7 @@ class CommandFactoryProvider implements Provider<CommandFactory> {
     private OutputStream out;
     private OutputStream err;
     private ExitCallback exit;
+    private Environment env;
     private Context ctx;
     private DispatchCommand cmd;
     private boolean logged;
@@ -93,6 +108,25 @@ class CommandFactoryProvider implements Provider<CommandFactory> {
     }
 
     public void start(final Environment env) throws IOException {
+      this.env = env;
+      startExecutor.execute(new Runnable() {
+        public void run() {
+          try {
+            onStart();
+          } catch (Exception e) {
+            logger.warn("Cannot start command \"" + ctx.getCommandLine()
+                + "\" for user " + ctx.getSession().getUsername(), e);
+          }
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public String toString() {
+          return "start (user " + ctx.getSession().getUsername() + ")";
+        }
+      });
+    }
+
+    private void onStart() throws IOException {
       synchronized (this) {
         final Context old = SshScope.set(ctx);
         try {
diff --git a/gerrit-sshd/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/sshd/SshScope.java b/gerrit-sshd/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/sshd/SshScope.java
index 2b89d07dda..d32d429eac 100644
--- a/gerrit-sshd/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/sshd/SshScope.java
+++ b/gerrit-sshd/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/sshd/SshScope.java
@@ -71,6 +71,10 @@ class SshScope {
       return commandLine;
     }
 
+    SshSession getSession() {
+      return session;
+    }
+
     synchronized <T> T get(Key<T> key, Provider<T> creator) {
       @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
       T t = (T) map.get(key);
@@ -96,7 +100,7 @@ class SshScope {
   static class SshSessionProvider implements Provider<SshSession> {
     @Override
     public SshSession get() {
-      return getContext().session;
+      return getContext().getSession();
     }
   }