diff --git a/lib/std/fs/Dir.zig b/lib/std/fs/Dir.zig
index d097573122..2d9057793c 100644
--- a/lib/std/fs/Dir.zig
+++ b/lib/std/fs/Dir.zig
@@ -663,11 +663,120 @@ fn iterateImpl(self: Dir, first_iter_start_value: bool) Iterator {
     }
 }
 
-pub const Walker = struct {
-    stack: std.ArrayListUnmanaged(StackItem),
+pub const SelectiveWalker = struct {
+    stack: std.ArrayListUnmanaged(Walker.StackItem),
     name_buffer: std.ArrayListUnmanaged(u8),
     allocator: Allocator,
 
+    /// After each call to this function, and on deinit(), the memory returned
+    /// from this function becomes invalid. A copy must be made in order to keep
+    /// a reference to the path.
+    pub fn next(self: *SelectiveWalker) !?Walker.Entry {
+        while (self.stack.items.len > 0) {
+            const top = &self.stack.items[self.stack.items.len - 1];
+            var dirname_len = top.dirname_len;
+            if (top.iter.next() catch |err| {
+                // If we get an error, then we want the user to be able to continue
+                // walking if they want, which means that we need to pop the directory
+                // that errored from the stack. Otherwise, all future `next` calls would
+                // likely just fail with the same error.
+                var item = self.stack.pop().?;
+                if (self.stack.items.len != 0) {
+                    item.iter.dir.close();
+                }
+                return err;
+            }) |entry| {
+                self.name_buffer.shrinkRetainingCapacity(dirname_len);
+                if (self.name_buffer.items.len != 0) {
+                    try self.name_buffer.append(self.allocator, fs.path.sep);
+                    dirname_len += 1;
+                }
+                try self.name_buffer.ensureUnusedCapacity(self.allocator, entry.name.len + 1);
+                self.name_buffer.appendSliceAssumeCapacity(entry.name);
+                self.name_buffer.appendAssumeCapacity(0);
+                const walker_entry: Walker.Entry = .{
+                    .dir = top.iter.dir,
+                    .basename = self.name_buffer.items[dirname_len .. self.name_buffer.items.len - 1 :0],
+                    .path = self.name_buffer.items[0 .. self.name_buffer.items.len - 1 :0],
+                    .kind = entry.kind,
+                };
+                return walker_entry;
+            } else {
+                var item = self.stack.pop().?;
+                if (self.stack.items.len != 0) {
+                    item.iter.dir.close();
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        return null;
+    }
+
+    /// Traverses into the directory, continuing walking one level down.
+    pub fn enter(self: *SelectiveWalker, entry: Walker.Entry) !void {
+        if (entry.kind != .directory) {
+            @branchHint(.cold);
+            return;
+        }
+
+        var new_dir = entry.dir.openDir(entry.basename, .{ .iterate = true }) catch |err| {
+            switch (err) {
+                error.NameTooLong => unreachable,
+                else => |e| return e,
+            }
+        };
+        errdefer new_dir.close();
+
+        try self.stack.append(self.allocator, .{
+            .iter = new_dir.iterateAssumeFirstIteration(),
+            .dirname_len = self.name_buffer.items.len - 1,
+        });
+    }
+
+    pub fn deinit(self: *SelectiveWalker) void {
+        self.name_buffer.deinit(self.allocator);
+        self.stack.deinit(self.allocator);
+    }
+
+    /// Leaves the current directory, continuing walking one level up.
+    pub fn leave(self: *SelectiveWalker) void {
+        var item = self.stack.pop().?;
+        if (self.stack.items.len != 0) {
+            @branchHint(.likely);
+            item.iter.dir.close();
+        }
+    }
+};
+
+/// Recursively iterates over a directory, but requires the user to
+/// opt-in to recursing into each directory entry.
+///
+/// `self` must have been opened with `OpenOptions{.iterate = true}`.
+///
+/// `Walker.deinit` releases allocated memory and directory handles.
+///
+/// The order of returned file system entries is undefined.
+///
+/// `self` will not be closed after walking it.
+///
+/// See also `walk`.
+pub fn walkSelectively(self: Dir, allocator: Allocator) !SelectiveWalker {
+    var stack: std.ArrayListUnmanaged(Walker.StackItem) = .empty;
+
+    try stack.append(allocator, .{
+        .iter = self.iterate(),
+        .dirname_len = 0,
+    });
+
+    return .{
+        .stack = stack,
+        .name_buffer = .{},
+        .allocator = allocator,
+    };
+}
+
+pub const Walker = struct {
+    inner: SelectiveWalker,
+
     pub const Entry = struct {
         /// The containing directory. This can be used to operate directly on `basename`
         /// rather than `path`, avoiding `error.NameTooLong` for deeply nested paths.
@@ -687,72 +796,22 @@ pub const Walker = struct {
     /// from this function becomes invalid. A copy must be made in order to keep
     /// a reference to the path.
     pub fn next(self: *Walker) !?Walker.Entry {
-        const gpa = self.allocator;
-        while (self.stack.items.len != 0) {
-            // `top` and `containing` become invalid after appending to `self.stack`
-            var top = &self.stack.items[self.stack.items.len - 1];
-            var containing = top;
-            var dirname_len = top.dirname_len;
-            if (top.iter.next() catch |err| {
-                // If we get an error, then we want the user to be able to continue
-                // walking if they want, which means that we need to pop the directory
-                // that errored from the stack. Otherwise, all future `next` calls would
-                // likely just fail with the same error.
-                var item = self.stack.pop().?;
-                if (self.stack.items.len != 0) {
-                    item.iter.dir.close();
-                }
-                return err;
-            }) |base| {
-                self.name_buffer.shrinkRetainingCapacity(dirname_len);
-                if (self.name_buffer.items.len != 0) {
-                    try self.name_buffer.append(gpa, fs.path.sep);
-                    dirname_len += 1;
-                }
-                try self.name_buffer.ensureUnusedCapacity(gpa, base.name.len + 1);
-                self.name_buffer.appendSliceAssumeCapacity(base.name);
-                self.name_buffer.appendAssumeCapacity(0);
-                if (base.kind == .directory) {
-                    var new_dir = top.iter.dir.openDir(base.name, .{ .iterate = true }) catch |err| switch (err) {
-                        error.NameTooLong => unreachable, // no path sep in base.name
-                        else => |e| return e,
-                    };
-                    {
-                        errdefer new_dir.close();
-                        try self.stack.append(gpa, .{
-                            .iter = new_dir.iterateAssumeFirstIteration(),
-                            .dirname_len = self.name_buffer.items.len - 1,
-                        });
-                        top = &self.stack.items[self.stack.items.len - 1];
-                        containing = &self.stack.items[self.stack.items.len - 2];
-                    }
-                }
-                return .{
-                    .dir = containing.iter.dir,
-                    .basename = self.name_buffer.items[dirname_len .. self.name_buffer.items.len - 1 :0],
-                    .path = self.name_buffer.items[0 .. self.name_buffer.items.len - 1 :0],
-                    .kind = base.kind,
-                };
-            } else {
-                var item = self.stack.pop().?;
-                if (self.stack.items.len != 0) {
-                    item.iter.dir.close();
-                }
-            }
+        const entry = try self.inner.next();
+        if (entry != null and entry.?.kind == .directory) {
+            try self.inner.enter(entry.?);
         }
-        return null;
+        return entry;
     }
 
     pub fn deinit(self: *Walker) void {
-        const gpa = self.allocator;
-        // Close any remaining directories except the initial one (which is always at index 0)
-        if (self.stack.items.len > 1) {
-            for (self.stack.items[1..]) |*item| {
-                item.iter.dir.close();
-            }
-        }
-        self.stack.deinit(gpa);
-        self.name_buffer.deinit(gpa);
+        self.inner.deinit();
+    }
+
+    /// Leaves the current directory, continuing walking one level up.
+    /// If the current entry is a directory entry, then the "current directory"
+    /// is the directory pertaining to the current entry.
+    pub fn leave(self: *Walker) void {
+        self.inner.leave();
     }
 };
 
@@ -765,18 +824,11 @@ pub const Walker = struct {
 /// The order of returned file system entries is undefined.
 ///
 /// `self` will not be closed after walking it.
+///
+/// See also `walkSelectively`.
 pub fn walk(self: Dir, allocator: Allocator) Allocator.Error!Walker {
-    var stack: std.ArrayListUnmanaged(Walker.StackItem) = .empty;
-
-    try stack.append(allocator, .{
-        .iter = self.iterate(),
-        .dirname_len = 0,
-    });
-
     return .{
-        .stack = stack,
-        .name_buffer = .{},
-        .allocator = allocator,
+        .inner = try walkSelectively(self, allocator),
     };
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/std/fs/test.zig b/lib/std/fs/test.zig
index 65e86e4c2e..7c28939bef 100644
--- a/lib/std/fs/test.zig
+++ b/lib/std/fs/test.zig
@@ -1810,6 +1810,67 @@ test "walker" {
     try testing.expectEqual(expected_paths.kvs.len, num_walked);
 }
 
+test "selective walker, skip entries that start with ." {
+    var tmp = tmpDir(.{ .iterate = true });
+    defer tmp.cleanup();
+
+    const paths_to_create: []const []const u8 = &.{
+        "dir1/foo/.git/ignored",
+        ".hidden/bar",
+        "a/b/c",
+        "a/baz",
+    };
+
+    // iteration order of walker is undefined, so need lookup maps to check against
+
+    const expected_paths = std.StaticStringMap(void).initComptime(.{
+        .{"dir1"},
+        .{"dir1" ++ fs.path.sep_str ++ "foo"},
+        .{"a"},
+        .{"a" ++ fs.path.sep_str ++ "b"},
+        .{"a" ++ fs.path.sep_str ++ "b" ++ fs.path.sep_str ++ "c"},
+        .{"a" ++ fs.path.sep_str ++ "baz"},
+    });
+
+    const expected_basenames = std.StaticStringMap(void).initComptime(.{
+        .{"dir1"},
+        .{"foo"},
+        .{"a"},
+        .{"b"},
+        .{"c"},
+        .{"baz"},
+    });
+
+    for (paths_to_create) |path| {
+        try tmp.dir.makePath(path);
+    }
+
+    var walker = try tmp.dir.walkSelectively(testing.allocator);
+    defer walker.deinit();
+
+    var num_walked: usize = 0;
+    while (try walker.next()) |entry| {
+        if (entry.basename[0] == '.') continue;
+        if (entry.kind == .directory) {
+            try walker.enter(entry);
+        }
+
+        testing.expect(expected_basenames.has(entry.basename)) catch |err| {
+            std.debug.print("found unexpected basename: {f}\n", .{std.ascii.hexEscape(entry.basename, .lower)});
+            return err;
+        };
+        testing.expect(expected_paths.has(entry.path)) catch |err| {
+            std.debug.print("found unexpected path: {f}\n", .{std.ascii.hexEscape(entry.path, .lower)});
+            return err;
+        };
+        // make sure that the entry.dir is the containing dir
+        var entry_dir = try entry.dir.openDir(entry.basename, .{});
+        defer entry_dir.close();
+        num_walked += 1;
+    }
+    try testing.expectEqual(expected_paths.kvs.len, num_walked);
+}
+
 test "walker without fully iterating" {
     var tmp = tmpDir(.{ .iterate = true });
     defer tmp.cleanup();