diff --git a/Documentation/config.adoc b/Documentation/config.adoc
index a8d8fb282e..bf6c73582e 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/config.adoc
@@ -515,6 +515,8 @@ include::config/remotes.adoc[]
 
 include::config/repack.adoc[]
 
+include::config/repo.adoc[]
+
 include::config/rerere.adoc[]
 
 include::config/revert.adoc[]
diff --git a/Documentation/config/repo.adoc b/Documentation/config/repo.adoc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7f8cd63296
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/config/repo.adoc
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+repo.structure.*::
+	These variables adjust the default behavior of the
+	`git repo structure` command.
++
+--
+	top::
+		This integer value implies `--top=<N>`, specifying the
+		number of largest paths to report in each detail table.
+		Must be non-negative; defaults to `0`, which disables the
+		detail tables.
+--
diff --git a/builtin/repo.c b/builtin/repo.c
index 6da126b129..5b7dbc5094 100644
--- a/builtin/repo.c
+++ b/builtin/repo.c
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 #include "builtin.h"
 #include "commit.h"
+#include "config.h"
 #include "environment.h"
 #include "hash.h"
 #include "hex.h"
@@ -1185,6 +1186,22 @@ static void structure_count_objects(struct object_stats *stats,
 	stop_progress(&data.progress);
 }
 
+static int repo_structure_config_cb(const char *var, const char *value,
+				    const struct config_context *cctx,
+				    void *cb)
+{
+	int *top_nr = cb;
+
+	if (!strcmp(var, "repo.structure.top")) {
+		*top_nr = git_config_int(var, value, cctx->kvi);
+		if (*top_nr < 0)
+			die(_("repo.structure.top must be non-negative"));
+		return 0;
+	}
+
+	return git_default_config(var, value, cctx, NULL);
+}
+
 static int cmd_repo_structure(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix,
 			      struct repository *repo)
 {
@@ -1216,6 +1233,8 @@ static int cmd_repo_structure(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix,
 		OPT_END()
 	};
 
+	repo_config(repo, repo_structure_config_cb, &top_nr);
+
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix, options, repo_structure_usage, 0);
 	if (argc)
 		usage(_("too many arguments"));
diff --git a/t/t1901-repo-structure.sh b/t/t1901-repo-structure.sh
index ade3275392..fd18da2150 100755
--- a/t/t1901-repo-structure.sh
+++ b/t/t1901-repo-structure.sh
@@ -313,6 +313,23 @@ test_expect_success '--top rejects negative values' '
 	test_grep "must be non-negative" err
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'repo.structure.top supplies the default for --top' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -rf repo" &&
+	git init repo &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+		test_commit foo &&
+
+		git -c repo.structure.top=2 \
+			repo structure --format=lines >with-config &&
+		grep "^objects.blobs.top.by_count.1.path=" with-config &&
+
+		git -c repo.structure.top=2 \
+			repo structure --format=lines --top=0 >cli-override &&
+		! grep "\.top\." cli-override
+	)
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'git repo structure -h shows only repo structure usage' '
 	test_must_fail git repo structure -h >actual &&
 	test_grep "git repo structure" actual &&