diff --git a/compiler/rustc_interface/src/tests.rs b/compiler/rustc_interface/src/tests.rs
index 558f13a832c43..5d4dd16389731 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_interface/src/tests.rs
+++ b/compiler/rustc_interface/src/tests.rs
@@ -801,6 +801,7 @@ fn test_unstable_options_tracking_hash() {
     tracked!(force_unstable_if_unmarked, true);
     tracked!(function_return, FunctionReturn::ThunkExtern);
     tracked!(function_sections, Some(false));
+    tracked!(hint_mostly_unused, true);
     tracked!(human_readable_cgu_names, true);
     tracked!(incremental_ignore_spans, true);
     tracked!(inline_mir, Some(true));
diff --git a/compiler/rustc_mir_transform/src/cross_crate_inline.rs b/compiler/rustc_mir_transform/src/cross_crate_inline.rs
index 727d4a126d21e..6d7b7e10ef697 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_mir_transform/src/cross_crate_inline.rs
+++ b/compiler/rustc_mir_transform/src/cross_crate_inline.rs
@@ -50,6 +50,13 @@ fn cross_crate_inlinable(tcx: TyCtxt<'_>, def_id: LocalDefId) -> bool {
         _ => {}
     }
 
+    // If the crate is likely to be mostly unused, use cross-crate inlining to defer codegen until
+    // the function is referenced, in order to skip codegen for unused functions. This is
+    // intentionally after the check for `inline(never)`, so that `inline(never)` wins.
+    if tcx.sess.opts.unstable_opts.hint_mostly_unused {
+        return true;
+    }
+
     let sig = tcx.fn_sig(def_id).instantiate_identity();
     for ty in sig.inputs().skip_binder().iter().chain(std::iter::once(&sig.output().skip_binder()))
     {
diff --git a/compiler/rustc_session/src/options.rs b/compiler/rustc_session/src/options.rs
index 12fa05118caf5..7ded572a60e30 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_session/src/options.rs
+++ b/compiler/rustc_session/src/options.rs
@@ -2233,6 +2233,8 @@ options! {
         environment variable `RUSTC_GRAPHVIZ_FONT` (default: `Courier, monospace`)"),
     has_thread_local: Option<bool> = (None, parse_opt_bool, [TRACKED],
         "explicitly enable the `cfg(target_thread_local)` directive"),
+    hint_mostly_unused: bool = (false, parse_bool, [TRACKED],
+        "hint that most of this crate will go unused, to minimize work for uncalled functions"),
     human_readable_cgu_names: bool = (false, parse_bool, [TRACKED],
         "generate human-readable, predictable names for codegen units (default: no)"),
     identify_regions: bool = (false, parse_bool, [UNTRACKED],
diff --git a/src/doc/unstable-book/src/compiler-flags/hint-mostly-unused.md b/src/doc/unstable-book/src/compiler-flags/hint-mostly-unused.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..80f5b1c44500d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/doc/unstable-book/src/compiler-flags/hint-mostly-unused.md
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# `hint-mostly-unused`
+
+This flag hints to the compiler that most of the crate will probably go unused.
+The compiler can optimize its operation based on this assumption, in order to
+compile faster. This is a hint, and does not guarantee any particular behavior.
+
+This option can substantially speed up compilation if applied to a large
+dependency where the majority of the dependency does not get used. This flag
+may slow down compilation in other cases.
+
+Currently, this option makes the compiler defer as much code generation as
+possible from functions in the crate, until later crates invoke those
+functions. Functions that never get invoked will never have code generated for
+them. For instance, if a crate provides thousands of functions, but only a few
+of them will get called, this flag will result in the compiler only doing code
+generation for the called functions. (This uses the same mechanisms as
+cross-crate inlining of functions.) This does not affect `extern` functions, or
+functions marked as `#[inline(never)]`.
+
+To try applying this flag to one dependency out of a dependency tree, use the
+[`profile-rustflags`](https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/unstable.html#profile-rustflags-option)
+feature of nightly cargo:
+
+```toml
+cargo-features = ["profile-rustflags"]
+
+# ...
+[dependencies]
+mostly-unused-dependency = "1.2.3"
+
+[profile.release.package.mostly-unused-dependency]
+rustflags = ["-Zhint-mostly-unused"]
+```