diff --git a/assets/chezmoi.io/docs/reference/special-files-and-directories/chezmoiexternals.md b/assets/chezmoi.io/docs/reference/special-files-and-directories/chezmoiexternals.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d3cef028856b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/assets/chezmoi.io/docs/reference/special-files-and-directories/chezmoiexternals.md
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# `.chezmoiexternals`
+
+If a directory called `.chezmoiexternals` exists, then all files in this
+directory are treated as `.chezmoiexternal.<format>` files.
diff --git a/assets/chezmoi.io/mkdocs.yml b/assets/chezmoi.io/mkdocs.yml
index 89739d276a3a..674c56fa805b 100644
--- a/assets/chezmoi.io/mkdocs.yml
+++ b/assets/chezmoi.io/mkdocs.yml
@@ -119,6 +119,7 @@ nav:
     - .chezmoi.&lt;format&gt;.tmpl: reference/special-files-and-directories/chezmoi-format-tmpl.md
     - .chezmoidata.&lt;format&gt;: reference/special-files-and-directories/chezmoidata-format.md
     - .chezmoiexternal.&lt;format&gt;: reference/special-files-and-directories/chezmoiexternal-format.md
+    - .chezmoiexternals: reference/special-files-and-directories/chezmoiexternals.md
     - .chezmoiignore: reference/special-files-and-directories/chezmoiignore.md
     - .chezmoiremove: reference/special-files-and-directories/chezmoiremove.md
     - .chezmoiroot: reference/special-files-and-directories/chezmoiroot.md
diff --git a/pkg/chezmoi/chezmoi.go b/pkg/chezmoi/chezmoi.go
index f7972da52ba9..900aae192ed2 100644
--- a/pkg/chezmoi/chezmoi.go
+++ b/pkg/chezmoi/chezmoi.go
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ const (
 	VersionName      = Prefix + "version"
 	dataName         = Prefix + "data"
 	externalName     = Prefix + "external"
+	externalsDirName = Prefix + "externals"
 	ignoreName       = Prefix + "ignore"
 	removeName       = Prefix + "remove"
 	scriptsDirName   = Prefix + "scripts"
@@ -115,6 +116,7 @@ var knownPrefixedFiles = newSet(
 var knownPrefixedDirs = newSet(
 	TemplatesDirName,
 	dataName,
+	externalsDirName,
 	scriptsDirName,
 )
 
diff --git a/pkg/chezmoi/sourcestate.go b/pkg/chezmoi/sourcestate.go
index f2b7b4c48d4f..bc66bac8cc42 100644
--- a/pkg/chezmoi/sourcestate.go
+++ b/pkg/chezmoi/sourcestate.go
@@ -940,7 +940,13 @@ func (s *SourceState) Read(ctx context.Context, options *ReadOptions) error {
 		case s.templateDataOnly:
 			return nil
 		case isPrefixDotFormat(fileInfo.Name(), externalName) || isPrefixDotFormatDotTmpl(fileInfo.Name(), externalName):
-			return s.addExternal(sourceAbsPath)
+			parentAbsPath, _ := sourceAbsPath.Split()
+			return s.addExternal(sourceAbsPath, parentAbsPath)
+		case fileInfo.Name() == externalsDirName:
+			if err := s.addExternalDir(ctx, sourceAbsPath); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			return vfs.SkipDir
 		case fileInfo.Name() == ignoreName || fileInfo.Name() == ignoreName+TemplateSuffix:
 			return s.addPatterns(s.ignore, sourceAbsPath, parentSourceRelPath)
 		case fileInfo.Name() == removeName || fileInfo.Name() == removeName+TemplateSuffix:
@@ -1287,9 +1293,8 @@ func (s *SourceState) TemplateData() map[string]any {
 }
 
 // addExternal adds external source entries to s.
-func (s *SourceState) addExternal(sourceAbsPath AbsPath) error {
-	parentAbsPath, _ := sourceAbsPath.Split()
-
+func (s *SourceState) addExternal(sourceAbsPath, parentAbsPath AbsPath) error {
+	fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "addExternal sourceAbsPath=%s parentAbsPath=%s\n", sourceAbsPath, parentAbsPath)
 	parentRelPath, err := parentAbsPath.TrimDirPrefix(s.sourceDirAbsPath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -1325,6 +1330,41 @@ func (s *SourceState) addExternal(sourceAbsPath AbsPath) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// addExternalDir adds all externals in externalsDirAbsPath to s.
+func (s *SourceState) addExternalDir(ctx context.Context, externalsDirAbsPath AbsPath) error {
+	walkFunc := func(ctx context.Context, externalAbsPath AbsPath, fileInfo fs.FileInfo, err error) error {
+		if externalAbsPath == externalsDirAbsPath {
+			return nil
+		}
+		if err == nil && fileInfo.Mode().Type() == fs.ModeSymlink {
+			fileInfo, err = s.system.Stat(externalAbsPath)
+		}
+		switch {
+		case err != nil:
+			return err
+		case strings.HasPrefix(fileInfo.Name(), Prefix):
+			return fmt.Errorf("%s: not allowed in %s directory", externalAbsPath, externalsDirName)
+		case strings.HasPrefix(fileInfo.Name(), ignorePrefix):
+			if fileInfo.IsDir() {
+				return vfs.SkipDir
+			}
+			return nil
+		case fileInfo.Mode().IsRegular():
+			parentAbsPath, _ := externalAbsPath.Split()
+			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "before addExternal parentAbsPath=%s\n", parentAbsPath)
+			return s.addExternal(externalAbsPath, parentAbsPath.TrimSuffix("/").Dir())
+		case fileInfo.IsDir():
+			return nil
+		default:
+			return &unsupportedFileTypeError{
+				absPath: externalAbsPath,
+				mode:    fileInfo.Mode(),
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return concurrentWalkSourceDir(ctx, s.system, externalsDirAbsPath, walkFunc)
+}
+
 // addPatterns executes the template at sourceAbsPath, interprets the result as
 // a list of patterns, and adds all patterns found to patternSet.
 func (s *SourceState) addPatterns(
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/testdata/scripts/external.txtar b/pkg/cmd/testdata/scripts/external.txtar
index 8b1360c34a3c..b04383b090f1 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/testdata/scripts/external.txtar
+++ b/pkg/cmd/testdata/scripts/external.txtar
@@ -110,6 +110,12 @@ exec chezmoi apply
 [umask:002] cmpmod 775 $HOME/.file
 [umask:022] cmpmod 755 $HOME/.file
 
+chhome home14/user
+
+# test that chezmoi reads external files from the .chezmoiexternal directory
+exec chezmoi apply
+cmp $HOME/.file golden/dir/file
+
 -- archive/dir/file --
 # contents of dir/file
 -- golden/.file --
@@ -156,6 +162,12 @@ exec chezmoi apply
     path = "dir/file"
     executable = true
     stripComponents = 1
+-- home14/user/.local/share/chezmoi/.chezmoiexternals/external.toml --
+[".file"]
+    type = "archive-file"
+    url = "{{ env "HTTPD_URL" }}/archive.tar.gz"
+    path = "dir/file"
+    stripComponents = 1
 -- home2/user/.local/share/chezmoi/.chezmoiexternal.toml --
 [".file"]
     type = "file"