diff --git a/Documentation/config/receive.txt b/Documentation/config/receive.txt
index 65f78aac37..a8e2125e62 100644
--- a/Documentation/config/receive.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config/receive.txt
@@ -108,6 +108,17 @@ receive.denyNonFastForwards::
 	even if that push is forced. This configuration variable is
 	set when initializing a shared repository.
 
+receive.executeCommandsHookRefs::
+	If the specific prefix matches the reference name of the command
+	which is sent by the client to `receive-pack`, the command will be
+	executed by an external hook (named "execute-commands"), instead of
+	the internal `execute_commands` function. For example, if it is
+	set to "refs/for/", pushing to reference such as "refs/for/master"
+	will not create or update a reference named "refs/for/master", but
+	may create or update a pull request directly by running the external
+	hook. Use more than one definition to specify multiple prefix
+	strings.
+
 receive.hideRefs::
 	This variable is the same as `transfer.hideRefs`, but applies
 	only to `receive-pack` (and so affects pushes, but not fetches).
diff --git a/builtin/receive-pack.c b/builtin/receive-pack.c
index fd2f3ba80a..f78adeffd4 100644
--- a/builtin/receive-pack.c
+++ b/builtin/receive-pack.c
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ static struct object_id push_cert_oid;
 static struct signature_check sigcheck;
 static const char *push_cert_nonce;
 static const char *cert_nonce_seed;
+static struct string_list execute_commands_hook_refs;
 
 static const char *NONCE_UNSOLICITED = "UNSOLICITED";
 static const char *NONCE_BAD = "BAD";
@@ -228,6 +229,20 @@ static int receive_pack_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+	if (strcmp(var, "receive.executecommandshookrefs") == 0) {
+		char *prefix;
+		int len;
+
+		if (!value)
+			return config_error_nonbool(var);
+		prefix = xstrdup(value);
+		len = strlen(prefix);
+		while (len && prefix[len - 1] == '/')
+			prefix[--len] = '\0';
+		string_list_insert(&execute_commands_hook_refs, prefix);
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	return git_default_config(var, value, cb);
 }
 
@@ -1600,17 +1615,29 @@ static void execute_commands(struct command *commands,
 	/* Try to find commands that have special prefix, and will run these
 	 * commands using an external "execute-commands" hook.
 	 */
-	for (cmd = commands; cmd; cmd = cmd->next) {
-		if (!should_process_cmd(cmd))
-			continue;
+	if (execute_commands_hook_refs.nr > 0) {
+		struct strbuf refname_full = STRBUF_INIT;
+		size_t prefix_len;
 
-		/* TODO: replace the fixed prefix by looking up git config variables. */
-		if (!strncmp(cmd->ref_name, "refs/for/", 9)) {
-			cmd->exec_by_hook = 1;
-			seen_exec_by_hook = 1;
-		} else
-			seen_internal_exec = 1;
-	}
+		strbuf_addstr(&refname_full, get_git_namespace());
+		prefix_len = refname_full.len;
+
+		for (cmd = commands; cmd; cmd = cmd->next) {
+			if (!should_process_cmd(cmd))
+				continue;
+
+			strbuf_setlen(&refname_full, prefix_len);
+			strbuf_addstr(&refname_full, cmd->ref_name);
+			if (ref_is_matched(&execute_commands_hook_refs, cmd->ref_name, refname_full.buf)) {
+				cmd->exec_by_hook = 1;
+				seen_exec_by_hook = 1;
+			} else
+				seen_internal_exec = 1;
+		}
+
+		strbuf_release(&refname_full);
+	} else
+		seen_internal_exec = 1;
 
 	if (seen_exec_by_hook) {
 		/* Try to find and run the `execute-commands--pre-receive` hook to check
@@ -2085,6 +2112,7 @@ int cmd_receive_pack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	};
 
 	argv_array_init(&post_receive_env_array);
+	string_list_init(&execute_commands_hook_refs, 0);
 
 	packet_trace_identity("receive-pack");
 
diff --git a/t/t5411-execute-commands-hook.sh b/t/t5411-execute-commands-hook.sh
index 1907d0619d..c8ee699773 100755
--- a/t/t5411-execute-commands-hook.sh
+++ b/t/t5411-execute-commands-hook.sh
@@ -41,6 +41,9 @@ test_expect_success setup '
 	# Enable push options for bare.git.
 	git -C $bare config receive.advertisePushOptions true &&
 
+	# Register ref prefix for execute-commands hook.
+	git -C $bare config --add receive.executeCommandsHookRefs refs/for/ &&
+
 	git clone --no-local $bare work &&
 	create_commits_in work A B
 '
@@ -229,6 +232,67 @@ test_expect_success "push two special references" '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success "push two special references, but one is not registered" '
+	(
+		cd work &&
+		git push origin \
+			HEAD:refs/for/maint/my/topic \
+			HEAD:refs/drafts/maint/my/topic
+	) >out 2>&1 &&
+	grep "^remote:" out | sed -e "s/  *\$//g" >actual &&
+	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
+	remote: execute: execute-commands
+	remote: >> pre-receive mode
+	remote: >> old: 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000, new: ce858e653cdbf70f9955a39d73a44219e4b92e9e, ref: refs/for/maint/my/topic.
+	remote: execute: pre-receive hook
+	remote: >> old: 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000, new: ce858e653cdbf70f9955a39d73a44219e4b92e9e, ref: refs/drafts/maint/my/topic.
+	remote: execute: execute-commands
+	remote: >> old: 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000, new: ce858e653cdbf70f9955a39d73a44219e4b92e9e, ref: refs/for/maint/my/topic.
+	remote: execute: post-receive hook
+	remote: >> old: 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000, new: ce858e653cdbf70f9955a39d73a44219e4b92e9e, ref: refs/for/maint/my/topic.
+	remote: >> old: 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000, new: ce858e653cdbf70f9955a39d73a44219e4b92e9e, ref: refs/drafts/maint/my/topic.
+	EOF
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success "restore bare.git, and register new ref prefix" '
+	(
+		cd $bare &&
+		git config --add receive.executeCommandsHookRefs refs/drafts/ &&
+		git update-ref -d refs/drafts/maint/my/topic &&
+		git show-ref
+	) >actual &&
+	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
+	102939797ab91a4f201d131418d2c9d919dcdd2c refs/heads/a/b/c
+	102939797ab91a4f201d131418d2c9d919dcdd2c refs/heads/maint
+	102939797ab91a4f201d131418d2c9d919dcdd2c refs/heads/master
+	EOF
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success "push to two special references (all registered)" '
+	(
+		cd work &&
+		git push origin \
+			HEAD:refs/for/master/my/topic \
+			HEAD:refs/drafts/maint/my/topic
+	) >out 2>&1 &&
+	grep "^remote:" out | sed -e "s/  *\$//g" >actual &&
+	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
+	remote: execute: execute-commands
+	remote: >> pre-receive mode
+	remote: >> old: 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000, new: ce858e653cdbf70f9955a39d73a44219e4b92e9e, ref: refs/for/master/my/topic.
+	remote: >> old: 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000, new: ce858e653cdbf70f9955a39d73a44219e4b92e9e, ref: refs/drafts/maint/my/topic.
+	remote: execute: execute-commands
+	remote: >> old: 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000, new: ce858e653cdbf70f9955a39d73a44219e4b92e9e, ref: refs/for/master/my/topic.
+	remote: >> old: 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000, new: ce858e653cdbf70f9955a39d73a44219e4b92e9e, ref: refs/drafts/maint/my/topic.
+	remote: execute: post-receive hook
+	remote: >> old: 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000, new: ce858e653cdbf70f9955a39d73a44219e4b92e9e, ref: refs/for/master/my/topic.
+	remote: >> old: 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000, new: ce858e653cdbf70f9955a39d73a44219e4b92e9e, ref: refs/drafts/maint/my/topic.
+	EOF
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
 test_expect_success "new execute-commands hook (fail with error)" '
 	mv $bare/hooks/execute-commands $bare/hooks/execute-commands.ok &&
 	cat >$bare/hooks/execute-commands <<-EOF &&
@@ -322,21 +386,21 @@ test_expect_success "push mixed references successfully" '
 	(
 		cd work &&
 		git push origin \
-			HEAD:refs/for/maint/my/topic \
+			HEAD:refs/drafts/maint/my/topic \
 			HEAD:refs/heads/master
 	) >out 2>&1 &&
 	grep "^remote:" out | sed -e "s/  *\$//g" >actual &&
 	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
 	remote: execute: execute-commands
 	remote: >> pre-receive mode
-	remote: >> old: 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000, new: ce858e653cdbf70f9955a39d73a44219e4b92e9e, ref: refs/for/maint/my/topic.
+	remote: >> old: 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000, new: ce858e653cdbf70f9955a39d73a44219e4b92e9e, ref: refs/drafts/maint/my/topic.
 	remote: execute: pre-receive hook
 	remote: >> old: 102939797ab91a4f201d131418d2c9d919dcdd2c, new: ce858e653cdbf70f9955a39d73a44219e4b92e9e, ref: refs/heads/master.
 	remote: execute: execute-commands
-	remote: >> old: 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000, new: ce858e653cdbf70f9955a39d73a44219e4b92e9e, ref: refs/for/maint/my/topic.
+	remote: >> old: 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000, new: ce858e653cdbf70f9955a39d73a44219e4b92e9e, ref: refs/drafts/maint/my/topic.
 	remote: execute: post-receive hook
 	remote: >> old: 102939797ab91a4f201d131418d2c9d919dcdd2c, new: ce858e653cdbf70f9955a39d73a44219e4b92e9e, ref: refs/heads/master.
-	remote: >> old: 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000, new: ce858e653cdbf70f9955a39d73a44219e4b92e9e, ref: refs/for/maint/my/topic.
+	remote: >> old: 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000, new: ce858e653cdbf70f9955a39d73a44219e4b92e9e, ref: refs/drafts/maint/my/topic.
 	EOF
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
