diff --git a/Documentation/git-multi-pack-index.txt b/Documentation/git-multi-pack-index.txt
index 233b2b7862..d7a02cc6fa 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-multi-pack-index.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-multi-pack-index.txt
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ git-multi-pack-index - Write and verify multi-pack-indexes
 SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
-'git multi-pack-index' [--object-dir=<dir>] <subcommand>
+'git multi-pack-index' [--object-dir=<dir>] [--[no-]progress] <subcommand>
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
@@ -23,6 +23,10 @@ OPTIONS
 	`<dir>/packs/multi-pack-index` for the current MIDX file, and
 	`<dir>/packs` for the pack-files to index.
 
+--[no-]progress::
+	Turn progress on/off explicitly. If neither is specified, progress is 
+	shown if standard error is connected to a terminal.
+
 The following subcommands are available:
 
 write::
diff --git a/builtin/multi-pack-index.c b/builtin/multi-pack-index.c
index e86b8cd17d..1730b21901 100644
--- a/builtin/multi-pack-index.c
+++ b/builtin/multi-pack-index.c
@@ -6,21 +6,25 @@
 #include "trace2.h"
 
 static char const * const builtin_multi_pack_index_usage[] = {
-	N_("git multi-pack-index [--object-dir=<dir>] (write|verify|expire|repack --batch-size=<size>)"),
+	N_("git multi-pack-index [<options>] (write|verify|expire|repack --batch-size=<size>)"),
 	NULL
 };
 
 static struct opts_multi_pack_index {
 	const char *object_dir;
 	unsigned long batch_size;
+	int progress;
 } opts;
 
 int cmd_multi_pack_index(int argc, const char **argv,
 			 const char *prefix)
 {
+	unsigned flags = 0;
+
 	static struct option builtin_multi_pack_index_options[] = {
 		OPT_FILENAME(0, "object-dir", &opts.object_dir,
 		  N_("object directory containing set of packfile and pack-index pairs")),
+		OPT_BOOL(0, "progress", &opts.progress, N_("force progress reporting")),
 		OPT_MAGNITUDE(0, "batch-size", &opts.batch_size,
 		  N_("during repack, collect pack-files of smaller size into a batch that is larger than this size")),
 		OPT_END(),
@@ -28,12 +32,15 @@ int cmd_multi_pack_index(int argc, const char **argv,
 
 	git_config(git_default_config, NULL);
 
+	opts.progress = isatty(2);
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix,
 			     builtin_multi_pack_index_options,
 			     builtin_multi_pack_index_usage, 0);
 
 	if (!opts.object_dir)
 		opts.object_dir = get_object_directory();
+	if (opts.progress)
+		flags |= MIDX_PROGRESS;
 
 	if (argc == 0)
 		usage_with_options(builtin_multi_pack_index_usage,
@@ -47,16 +54,17 @@ int cmd_multi_pack_index(int argc, const char **argv,
 	trace2_cmd_mode(argv[0]);
 
 	if (!strcmp(argv[0], "repack"))
-		return midx_repack(the_repository, opts.object_dir, (size_t)opts.batch_size, 0);
+		return midx_repack(the_repository, opts.object_dir, 
+			(size_t)opts.batch_size, flags);
 	if (opts.batch_size)
 		die(_("--batch-size option is only for 'repack' subcommand"));
 
 	if (!strcmp(argv[0], "write"))
-		return write_midx_file(opts.object_dir, 0);
+		return write_midx_file(opts.object_dir, flags);
 	if (!strcmp(argv[0], "verify"))
-		return verify_midx_file(the_repository, opts.object_dir, 0);
+		return verify_midx_file(the_repository, opts.object_dir, flags);
 	if (!strcmp(argv[0], "expire"))
-		return expire_midx_packs(the_repository, opts.object_dir, 0);
+		return expire_midx_packs(the_repository, opts.object_dir, flags);
 
 	die(_("unrecognized subcommand: %s"), argv[0]);
 }
diff --git a/t/t5319-multi-pack-index.sh b/t/t5319-multi-pack-index.sh
index c72ca04399..cd2f87be6a 100755
--- a/t/t5319-multi-pack-index.sh
+++ b/t/t5319-multi-pack-index.sh
@@ -147,6 +147,21 @@ test_expect_success 'write midx with two packs' '
 
 compare_results_with_midx "two packs"
 
+test_expect_success 'write progress off for redirected stderr' '
+	git multi-pack-index --object-dir=$objdir write 2>err &&
+	test_line_count = 0 err
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'write force progress on for stderr' '
+	git multi-pack-index --object-dir=$objdir --progress write 2>err &&
+	test_file_not_empty err
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'write with the --no-progress option' '
+	git multi-pack-index --object-dir=$objdir --no-progress write 2>err &&
+	test_line_count = 0 err
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'add more packs' '
 	for j in $(test_seq 11 20)
 	do
@@ -169,6 +184,21 @@ test_expect_success 'verify multi-pack-index success' '
 	git multi-pack-index verify --object-dir=$objdir
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'verify progress off for redirected stderr' '
+	git multi-pack-index verify --object-dir=$objdir 2>err &&
+	test_line_count = 0 err
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'verify force progress on for stderr' '
+	git multi-pack-index verify --object-dir=$objdir --progress 2>err &&
+	test_file_not_empty err
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'verify with the --no-progress option' '
+	git multi-pack-index verify --object-dir=$objdir --no-progress 2>err &&
+	test_line_count = 0 err
+'
+
 # usage: corrupt_midx_and_verify <pos> <data> <objdir> <string>
 corrupt_midx_and_verify() {
 	POS=$1 &&
@@ -284,6 +314,21 @@ test_expect_success 'git-fsck incorrect offset' '
 		"git -c core.multipackindex=true fsck"
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'repack progress off for redirected stderr' '
+	git multi-pack-index --object-dir=$objdir repack 2>err &&
+	test_line_count = 0 err
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'repack force progress on for stderr' '
+	git multi-pack-index --object-dir=$objdir --progress repack 2>err &&
+	test_file_not_empty err
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'repack with the --no-progress option' '
+	git multi-pack-index --object-dir=$objdir --no-progress repack 2>err &&
+	test_line_count = 0 err
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'repack removes multi-pack-index' '
 	test_path_is_file $objdir/pack/multi-pack-index &&
 	GIT_TEST_MULTI_PACK_INDEX=0 git repack -adf &&
@@ -413,6 +458,30 @@ test_expect_success 'expire does not remove any packs' '
 	)
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'expire progress off for redirected stderr' '
+	(
+		cd dup &&
+		git multi-pack-index expire 2>err &&
+		test_line_count = 0 err
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'expire force progress on for stderr' '
+	(
+		cd dup &&
+		git multi-pack-index --progress expire 2>err &&
+		test_file_not_empty err
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'expire with the --no-progress option' '
+	(
+		cd dup &&
+		git multi-pack-index --no-progress expire 2>err &&
+		test_line_count = 0 err
+	)
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'expire removes unreferenced packs' '
 	(
 		cd dup &&
