diff --git a/roles/upload-logs-swift/README.rst b/roles/upload-logs-swift/README.rst
index d5d3a4972..17c661e40 100644
--- a/roles/upload-logs-swift/README.rst
+++ b/roles/upload-logs-swift/README.rst
@@ -53,3 +53,10 @@ This uploads logs to an OpenStack Object Store (Swift) container.
    :default: Generated by the role `set-zuul-log-path-fact`
 
    Prepend this path to the object names when uploading.
+
+.. zuul:rolevar:: zuul_log_create_indexes
+   :default: true
+
+   Whether to create `index.html` files with directory indexes.  If set
+   to false, Swift containers can be marked with a `Web-Listings=true`
+   property to activate Swift's own directory indexing.
diff --git a/roles/upload-logs-swift/defaults/main.yaml b/roles/upload-logs-swift/defaults/main.yaml
index 846ed0459..27893357b 100644
--- a/roles/upload-logs-swift/defaults/main.yaml
+++ b/roles/upload-logs-swift/defaults/main.yaml
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 zuul_log_partition: false
 zuul_log_container: logs
 zuul_log_container_public: true
+zuul_log_create_indexes: true
diff --git a/roles/upload-logs-swift/tasks/main.yaml b/roles/upload-logs-swift/tasks/main.yaml
index f1d44ecd7..b66b1b023 100644
--- a/roles/upload-logs-swift/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/roles/upload-logs-swift/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
         container: "{{ zuul_log_container }}"
         public: "{{ zuul_log_container_public }}"
         prefix: "{{ zuul_log_path }}"
+        indexes: "{{ zuul_log_create_indexes }}"
         files:
           - "{{ zuul.executor.log_root }}/"
         delete_after: "{{zuul_log_delete_after | default(omit) }}"