diff --git a/Documentation/git-am.txt b/Documentation/git-am.txt
index 0a4a984dfde..665bc89ca9f 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-am.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-am.txt
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ SYNOPSIS
 	 [--exclude=<path>] [--include=<path>] [--reject] [-q | --quiet]
 	 [--[no-]scissors] [-S[<keyid>]] [--patch-format=<format>]
 	 [--quoted-cr=<action>]
+	 [--empty=(die|drop|keep)]
 	 [(<mbox> | <Maildir>)...]
 'git am' (--continue | --skip | --abort | --quit | --show-current-patch[=(diff|raw)])
 
@@ -63,6 +64,14 @@ OPTIONS
 --quoted-cr=<action>::
 	This flag will be passed down to 'git mailinfo' (see linkgit:git-mailinfo[1]).
 
+--empty-commit=(die|drop|keep)::
+	The command usually errors out when seeing an input e-mail
+	message that lacks a patch. When this option is set to
+	'drop', skip such an e-mail message without outputting error.
+	When this option is set to 'keep', create an empty commit,
+	recording the contents of the e-mail message as its log.
+	'die' is specified by default.
+
 -m::
 --message-id::
 	Pass the `-m` flag to 'git mailinfo' (see linkgit:git-mailinfo[1]),
diff --git a/builtin/am.c b/builtin/am.c
index 8677ea2348a..1a3ed87b445 100644
--- a/builtin/am.c
+++ b/builtin/am.c
@@ -87,6 +87,12 @@ enum show_patch_type {
 	SHOW_PATCH_DIFF = 1,
 };
 
+enum empty_action {
+	DIE_EMPTY_COMMIT = 0,  /* output errors */
+	DROP_EMPTY_COMMIT,     /* skip without outputting errors */
+	KEEP_EMPTY_COMMIT      /* keep recording as empty commits */
+};
+
 struct am_state {
 	/* state directory path */
 	char *dir;
@@ -118,6 +124,7 @@ struct am_state {
 	int message_id;
 	int scissors; /* enum scissors_type */
 	int quoted_cr; /* enum quoted_cr_action */
+	int empty_type; /* enum empty_action */
 	struct strvec git_apply_opts;
 	const char *resolvemsg;
 	int committer_date_is_author_date;
@@ -178,6 +185,23 @@ static int am_option_parse_quoted_cr(const struct option *opt,
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static int am_option_parse_empty_commit(const struct option *opt,
+				     const char *arg, int unset)
+{
+	int *opt_value = opt->value;
+
+	if (unset || !strcmp(arg, "die"))
+		*opt_value = DIE_EMPTY_COMMIT;
+	else if (!strcmp(arg, "drop"))
+		*opt_value = DROP_EMPTY_COMMIT;
+	else if (!strcmp(arg, "keep"))
+		*opt_value = KEEP_EMPTY_COMMIT;
+	else
+		return error(_("Invalid value for --empty: %s"), arg);
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
 /**
  * Returns path relative to the am_state directory.
  */
@@ -1248,11 +1272,6 @@ static int parse_mail(struct am_state *state, const char *mail)
 		goto finish;
 	}
 
-	if (is_empty_or_missing_file(am_path(state, "patch"))) {
-		printf_ln(_("Patch is empty."));
-		die_user_resolve(state);
-	}
-
 	strbuf_addstr(&msg, "\n\n");
 	strbuf_addbuf(&msg, &mi.log_message);
 	strbuf_stripspace(&msg, 0);
@@ -1792,6 +1811,20 @@ static void am_run(struct am_state *state, int resume)
 		if (state->interactive && do_interactive(state))
 			goto next;
 
+		if (is_empty_or_missing_file(am_path(state, "patch"))) {
+			if (state->empty_type == DROP_EMPTY_COMMIT)
+				goto next;
+			else if (state->empty_type == KEEP_EMPTY_COMMIT) {
+				if (run_applypatch_msg_hook(state))
+					exit(1);
+				else
+					goto commit;
+			} else if (state->empty_type == DIE_EMPTY_COMMIT) {
+				printf_ln(_("Patch is empty."));
+				die_user_resolve(state);
+			}
+		}
+
 		if (run_applypatch_msg_hook(state))
 			exit(1);
 
@@ -1827,6 +1860,7 @@ static void am_run(struct am_state *state, int resume)
 			die_user_resolve(state);
 		}
 
+commit:
 		do_commit(state);
 
 next:
@@ -2357,6 +2391,10 @@ int cmd_am(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		{ OPTION_STRING, 'S', "gpg-sign", &state.sign_commit, N_("key-id"),
 		  N_("GPG-sign commits"),
 		  PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, NULL, (intptr_t) "" },
+		{ OPTION_CALLBACK, 0, "empty", &state.empty_type,
+		  "(die|drop|keep)",
+		  N_("specify how to handle empty patches"),
+		  PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, am_option_parse_empty_commit },
 		OPT_HIDDEN_BOOL(0, "rebasing", &state.rebasing,
 			N_("(internal use for git-rebase)")),
 		OPT_END()
diff --git a/t/t4150-am.sh b/t/t4150-am.sh
index 2aaaa0d7ded..3119556884d 100755
--- a/t/t4150-am.sh
+++ b/t/t4150-am.sh
@@ -196,6 +196,13 @@ test_expect_success setup '
 
 	git format-patch -M --stdout lorem^ >rename-add.patch &&
 
+	git checkout -b empty-commit &&
+	git commit -m "empty commit" --allow-empty &&
+
+	git format-patch --stdout empty-commit^ >empty.patch &&
+	git format-patch --stdout --cover-letter empty-commit^ >cover-letter.patch &&
+	git format-patch --always --stdout empty-commit^ >empty-commit.patch &&
+
 	# reset time
 	sane_unset test_tick &&
 	test_tick
@@ -1152,4 +1159,70 @@ test_expect_success 'apply binary blob in partial clone' '
 	git -C client am ../patch
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'still output error with --empty when meeting empty files' '
+	test_must_fail git am --empty=drop empty.patch 2>actual &&
+	echo Patch format detection failed. >expected &&
+	test_cmp expected actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'error when meeting e-mail message that lacks a patch by default' '
+	git checkout empty-commit^ &&
+	test_must_fail git am empty-commit.patch >err &&
+	test_path_is_dir .git/rebase-apply &&
+	test_i18ngrep "Patch is empty." err &&
+	rm -fr .git/rebase-apply &&
+
+	test_must_fail git am --empty=die empty-commit.patch >err &&
+	test_path_is_dir .git/rebase-apply &&
+	test_i18ngrep "Patch is empty." err &&
+	rm -fr .git/rebase-apply &&
+
+	test_must_fail git am --empty=die cover-letter.patch >err &&
+	test_path_is_dir .git/rebase-apply &&
+	test_i18ngrep "Patch is empty." err &&
+	rm -fr .git/rebase-apply
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'skip without error when meeting e-mail message that lacks a patch' '
+	git am --empty=drop empty-commit.patch >err &&
+	test_path_is_missing .git/rebase-apply &&
+	git rev-parse empty-commit^ >expected &&
+	git rev-parse HEAD >actual &&
+	test_cmp expected actual &&
+
+	git am --empty=drop cover-letter.patch >err &&
+	test_path_is_missing .git/rebase-apply &&
+	test_cmp_rev empty-commit^ HEAD
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'record as an empty commit when meeting e-mail message that lacks a patch' '
+	git am --empty=keep empty-commit.patch &&
+	test_path_is_missing .git/rebase-apply &&
+	{
+		git show empty-commit --format="%B" &&
+		echo "--" &&
+		git version | sed -e "s/^git version //" &&
+		echo
+	} >expected &&
+	git show HEAD --format="%B" >actual &&
+	test_cmp actual expected &&
+
+	git am --empty=keep cover-letter.patch &&
+	test_path_is_missing .git/rebase-apply &&
+	{
+		echo "*** SUBJECT HERE ***" &&
+		echo &&
+		echo "*** BLURB HERE ***" &&
+		echo &&
+		echo "A U Thor (1):" &&
+		printf "  " &&
+		git show empty-commit --format="%B" &&
+		echo "--" &&
+		git version | sed -e "s/^git version //" &&
+		echo
+	} >expected &&
+	git show HEAD --format="%B" >actual &&
+	test_cmp actual expected
+'
+
 test_done
