diff --git a/etc/check-package-size.sh b/etc/check-package-size.sh
index 0b9c48a5f94..1b9dff874ea 100755
--- a/etc/check-package-size.sh
+++ b/etc/check-package-size.sh
@@ -41,4 +41,4 @@ echo "in root: gitoxide CLI"
 (enter git-packetline && indent cargo diet -n --package-size-limit 35KB)
 (enter git-repository && indent cargo diet -n --package-size-limit 80KB)
 (enter git-transport && indent cargo diet -n --package-size-limit 50KB)
-(enter gitoxide-core && indent cargo diet -n --package-size-limit 50KB)
+(enter gitoxide-core && indent cargo diet -n --package-size-limit 60KB)
diff --git a/git-worktree/tests/index/mod.rs b/git-worktree/tests/index/mod.rs
index d365777f332..ce638a3b056 100644
--- a/git-worktree/tests/index/mod.rs
+++ b/git-worktree/tests/index/mod.rs
@@ -173,7 +173,14 @@ mod checkout {
         let odb = git_odb::at(git_dir.join("objects"))?;
         let destination = tempfile::tempdir()?;
 
-        let outcome = index::checkout(&mut index)?;
+        let outcome = index::checkout(
+            &mut index,
+            &destination,
+            move |oid, buf| odb.find_blob(oid, buf).ok(),
+            &mut progress::Discard,
+            &mut progress::Discard,
+            opts,
+        )?;
         Ok((source_tree, destination, index, outcome))
     }
 
diff --git a/gitoxide-core/src/index/mod.rs b/gitoxide-core/src/index/mod.rs
index bd4f946807a..c7ac6291892 100644
--- a/gitoxide-core/src/index/mod.rs
+++ b/gitoxide-core/src/index/mod.rs
@@ -101,12 +101,23 @@ fn parse_file(index_path: impl AsRef<Path>, object_hash: git::hash::Kind) -> any
     .map_err(Into::into)
 }
 
+pub mod checkout_exclusive {
+    pub struct Options {
+        pub index: super::Options,
+        /// If true, all files will be written with zero bytes despite having made an ODB lookup.
+        pub empty_files: bool,
+    }
+}
+
 pub fn checkout_exclusive(
     index_path: impl AsRef<Path>,
     dest_directory: impl AsRef<Path>,
     repo: Option<PathBuf>,
     mut progress: impl Progress,
-    Options { object_hash, .. }: Options,
+    checkout_exclusive::Options {
+        index: Options { object_hash, .. },
+        empty_files,
+    }: checkout_exclusive::Options,
 ) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     let repo = repo
         .map(|dir| git_repository::discover(dir).map(|r| r.apply_environment()))
@@ -124,7 +135,7 @@ pub fn checkout_exclusive(
     let mut index = parse_file(index_path, object_hash)?;
 
     let mut num_skipped = 0;
-    let maybe_symlink_mode = if repo.is_some() {
+    let maybe_symlink_mode = if !empty_files && repo.is_some() {
         git::index::entry::Mode::DIR
     } else {
         git::index::entry::Mode::SYMLINK
@@ -161,7 +172,18 @@ pub fn checkout_exclusive(
         Some(repo) => git::worktree::index::checkout(
             &mut index,
             dest_directory,
-            |oid, buf| repo.objects.find_blob(oid, buf).ok(),
+            |oid, buf| {
+                repo.objects.find_blob(oid, buf).ok();
+                if empty_files {
+                    // We always want to query the ODB here…
+                    repo.objects.find_blob(oid, buf).ok();
+                    buf.clear();
+                    // …but write nothing
+                    Some(git::objs::BlobRef { data: buf })
+                } else {
+                    repo.objects.find_blob(oid, buf).ok()
+                }
+            },
             &mut files,
             &mut bytes,
             opts,
diff --git a/src/plumbing/main.rs b/src/plumbing/main.rs
index c2300926628..22346e55660 100644
--- a/src/plumbing/main.rs
+++ b/src/plumbing/main.rs
@@ -78,7 +78,11 @@ pub fn main() -> Result<()> {
             index_path,
             cmd,
         }) => match cmd {
-            index::Subcommands::CheckoutExclusive { directory, repository } => prepare_and_run(
+            index::Subcommands::CheckoutExclusive {
+                directory,
+                empty_files,
+                repository,
+            } => prepare_and_run(
                 "index-checkout",
                 verbose,
                 progress,
@@ -90,7 +94,10 @@ pub fn main() -> Result<()> {
                         directory,
                         repository,
                         progress,
-                        core::index::Options { object_hash, format },
+                        core::index::checkout_exclusive::Options {
+                            index: core::index::Options { object_hash, format },
+                            empty_files,
+                        },
                     )
                 },
             ),
diff --git a/src/plumbing/options.rs b/src/plumbing/options.rs
index 8d01894c3a1..43fda5ca779 100644
--- a/src/plumbing/options.rs
+++ b/src/plumbing/options.rs
@@ -373,6 +373,10 @@ pub mod index {
             /// in the index. Use this measure the impact on extracting objects on overall performance.
             #[clap(long, short = 'r')]
             repository: Option<PathBuf>,
+            /// Enable to query the object database yet write only empty files. This is useful to measure the overhead of ODB query
+            /// compared to writing the bytes to disk.
+            #[clap(long, short = 'e', requires = "repository")]
+            empty_files: bool,
             /// The directory into which to write all index entries.
             directory: PathBuf,
         },