diff --git a/Documentation/scalar.txt b/Documentation/scalar.txt
index 361f51a64736fa..7e4259c6743f9b 100644
--- a/Documentation/scalar.txt
+++ b/Documentation/scalar.txt
@@ -86,6 +86,13 @@ cloning. If the HEAD at the remote did not point at any branch when
 	`<entlistment>/src` directory. Use `--no-src` to place the cloned
 	repository directly in the `<enlistment>` directory.
 
+--[no-]tags::
+	By default, `scalar clone` will fetch the tag objects advertised by
+	the remote and future `git fetch` commands will do the same. Use
+	`--no-tags` to avoid fetching tags in `scalar clone` and to configure
+	the repository to avoid fetching tags in the future. To fetch tags after
+	cloning with `--no-tags`, run `git fetch --tags`.
+
 --[no-]full-clone::
 	A sparse-checkout is initialized by default. This behavior can be
 	turned off via `--full-clone`.
diff --git a/scalar.c b/scalar.c
index 6166a8dd4c8d1f..09560aeab5418b 100644
--- a/scalar.c
+++ b/scalar.c
@@ -410,7 +410,7 @@ static int cmd_clone(int argc, const char **argv)
 {
 	const char *branch = NULL;
 	int full_clone = 0, single_branch = 0, show_progress = isatty(2);
-	int src = 1;
+	int src = 1, tags = 1;
 	struct option clone_options[] = {
 		OPT_STRING('b', "branch", &branch, N_("<branch>"),
 			   N_("branch to checkout after clone")),
@@ -421,11 +421,13 @@ static int cmd_clone(int argc, const char **argv)
 			    "be checked out")),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "src", &src,
 			 N_("create repository within 'src' directory")),
+		OPT_BOOL(0, "tags", &tags,
+			 N_("specify if tags should be fetched during clone")),
 		OPT_END(),
 	};
 	const char * const clone_usage[] = {
 		N_("scalar clone [--single-branch] [--branch <main-branch>] [--full-clone]\n"
-		   "\t[--[no-]src] <url> [<enlistment>]"),
+		   "\t[--[no-]src] [--[no-]tags] <url> [<enlistment>]"),
 		NULL
 	};
 	const char *url;
@@ -504,6 +506,11 @@ static int cmd_clone(int argc, const char **argv)
 		goto cleanup;
 	}
 
+	if (!tags && set_config("remote.origin.tagOpt=--no-tags")) {
+		res = error(_("could not disable tags in '%s'"), dir);
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
+
 	if (!full_clone &&
 	    (res = run_git("sparse-checkout", "init", "--cone", NULL)))
 		goto cleanup;
@@ -513,7 +520,9 @@ static int cmd_clone(int argc, const char **argv)
 
 	if ((res = run_git("fetch", "--quiet",
 				show_progress ? "--progress" : "--no-progress",
-				"origin", NULL))) {
+				"origin",
+				(tags ? NULL : "--no-tags"),
+				NULL))) {
 		warning(_("partial clone failed; attempting full clone"));
 
 		if (set_config("remote.origin.promisor") ||
diff --git a/t/t9210-scalar.sh b/t/t9210-scalar.sh
index a41b4fcc0859db..e8613990e13705 100755
--- a/t/t9210-scalar.sh
+++ b/t/t9210-scalar.sh
@@ -169,6 +169,24 @@ test_expect_success 'scalar clone' '
 	)
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'scalar clone --no-... opts' '
+	# Note: redirect stderr always to avoid having a verbose test
+	# run result in a difference in the --[no-]progress option.
+	GIT_TRACE2_EVENT="$(pwd)/no-opt-trace" scalar clone \
+		--no-tags --no-src \
+		"file://$(pwd)" no-opts --single-branch 2>/dev/null &&
+
+	test_subcommand git fetch --quiet --no-progress \
+			origin --no-tags <no-opt-trace &&
+	(
+		cd no-opts &&
+
+		test_cmp_config --no-tags remote.origin.tagopt &&
+		git for-each-ref --format="%(refname)" refs/tags/ >tags &&
+		test_line_count = 0 tags
+	)
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'scalar reconfigure' '
 	git init one/src &&
 	scalar register one &&