diff --git a/src/attr.c b/src/attr.c
index ddcc3dcf0..17571f6a8 100644
--- a/src/attr.c
+++ b/src/attr.c
@@ -210,6 +210,13 @@ int git_attr_add_macro(
 	return error;
 }
 
+int git_attr_cache__is_cached(git_repository *repo, const char *path)
+{
+	const char *cache_key = path;
+	if (repo && git__prefixcmp(cache_key, git_repository_workdir(repo)) == 0)
+		cache_key += strlen(git_repository_workdir(repo));
+	return (git_hashtable_lookup(repo->attrcache.files, cache_key) == NULL);
+}
 
 /* add git_attr_file to vector of files, loading if needed */
 int git_attr_cache__push_file(
diff --git a/src/attr.h b/src/attr.h
index a758cc4bd..ea27259f1 100644
--- a/src/attr.h
+++ b/src/attr.h
@@ -27,4 +27,7 @@ extern int git_attr_cache__push_file(
 	const char     *filename,
 	int (*loader)(git_repository *, const char *, git_attr_file *));
 
+/* returns GIT_SUCCESS if path is in cache */
+extern int git_attr_cache__is_cached(git_repository *repo, const char *path);
+
 #endif
diff --git a/tests-clar/attr/repo.c b/tests-clar/attr/repo.c
index 6fc36d2b6..7a716042a 100644
--- a/tests-clar/attr/repo.c
+++ b/tests-clar/attr/repo.c
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #include "clar_libgit2.h"
 #include "fileops.h"
 #include "git2/attr.h"
+#include "attr.h"
 
 static git_repository *g_repo = NULL;
 
@@ -89,6 +90,10 @@ void test_attr_repo__get_one(void)
 
 		git_buf_free(&b);
 	}
+
+	cl_git_pass(git_attr_cache__is_cached(g_repo, ".git/info/attributes"));
+	cl_git_pass(git_attr_cache__is_cached(g_repo, ".gitattributes"));
+	cl_git_pass(git_attr_cache__is_cached(g_repo, "sub/.gitattributes"));
 }
 
 void test_attr_repo__get_many(void)
diff --git a/tests-clar/status/ignore.c b/tests-clar/status/ignore.c
index 3a66b3a7a..67aecba31 100644
--- a/tests-clar/status/ignore.c
+++ b/tests-clar/status/ignore.c
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #include "clar_libgit2.h"
 #include "fileops.h"
 #include "git2/attr.h"
+#include "attr.h"
 
 static git_repository *g_repo = NULL;
 
@@ -29,6 +30,7 @@ void test_status_ignore__0(void)
 		const char *path;
 		int expected;
 	} test_cases[] = {
+		/* patterns "sub" and "ign" from .gitignore */
 		{ "file", 0 },
 		{ "ign", 1 },
 		{ "sub", 1 },
@@ -38,6 +40,12 @@ void test_status_ignore__0(void)
 		{ "sub/sub/file", 0 },
 		{ "sub/sub/ign", 1 },
 		{ "sub/sub/sub", 1 },
+		/* pattern "dir/" from .gitignore */
+		{ "dir", 1 },
+		{ "dir/", 1 },
+		{ "sub/dir", 1 },
+		{ "sub/dir/", 1 },
+		{ "sub/sub/dir", 0 }, /* dir is not actually a dir, but a file */
 		{ NULL, 0 }
 	}, *one_test;
 
@@ -46,4 +54,8 @@ void test_status_ignore__0(void)
 		cl_git_pass(git_status_should_ignore(g_repo, one_test->path, &ignored));
 		cl_assert_(ignored == one_test->expected, one_test->path);
 	}
+
+	/* confirm that ignore files were cached */
+	cl_git_pass(git_attr_cache__is_cached(g_repo, ".git/info/exclude"));
+	cl_git_pass(git_attr_cache__is_cached(g_repo, ".gitignore"));
 }
diff --git a/tests/resources/attr/dir/file b/tests/resources/attr/dir/file
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/tests/resources/attr/gitignore b/tests/resources/attr/gitignore
index 66f77694e..546d48f3a 100644
Binary files a/tests/resources/attr/gitignore and b/tests/resources/attr/gitignore differ
diff --git a/tests/resources/attr/sub/dir/file b/tests/resources/attr/sub/dir/file
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/tests/resources/attr/sub/sub/dir b/tests/resources/attr/sub/sub/dir
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb