diff --git a/crates/radicle-cli/src/commands/lfs.rs b/crates/radicle-cli/src/commands/lfs.rs
index f4eea994..73d63178 100644
--- a/crates/radicle-cli/src/commands/lfs.rs
+++ b/crates/radicle-cli/src/commands/lfs.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 pub mod backfill;
 pub mod fetch;
+pub mod fetch_batch;
 pub mod init;
 pub mod precommit;
 pub mod rekey;
@@ -22,5 +23,6 @@ pub fn run(args: Args, ctx: impl term::Context) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
         Command::Rekey => self::rekey::run(ctx),
         Command::Precommit => self::precommit::run(ctx),
         Command::Backfill => self::backfill::run(ctx),
+        Command::FetchBatch => self::fetch_batch::run(ctx),
     }
 }
diff --git a/crates/radicle-cli/src/commands/lfs/args.rs b/crates/radicle-cli/src/commands/lfs/args.rs
index 6fe00716..6a2d6312 100644
--- a/crates/radicle-cli/src/commands/lfs/args.rs
+++ b/crates/radicle-cli/src/commands/lfs/args.rs
@@ -55,4 +55,10 @@ pub enum Command {
     /// without going through the pre-commit hook (e.g. `--no-verify`, or
     /// the IPFS daemon/`ipfs`/`rad` weren't available at commit time)
     Backfill,
+    /// Long-lived worker that fetches many LFS objects across one process
+    /// (invoked by the custom transfer agent; not for interactive use).
+    /// Reads "<oid> <size> <out-path>" lines from stdin, one at a time,
+    /// writing a JSON response line for each.
+    #[command(hide = true)]
+    FetchBatch,
 }
diff --git a/crates/radicle-cli/src/commands/lfs/fetch.rs b/crates/radicle-cli/src/commands/lfs/fetch.rs
index 93c5f532..a474f82f 100644
--- a/crates/radicle-cli/src/commands/lfs/fetch.rs
+++ b/crates/radicle-cli/src/commands/lfs/fetch.rs
@@ -3,10 +3,15 @@
 //! content from the local IPFS (Kubo) node, decrypting it first if the
 //! repository is private.
 
-use std::path::PathBuf;
+use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 
 use anyhow::{Context as _, anyhow};
 
+use radicle::Profile;
+use radicle::git::raw::Repository;
+use radicle::identity::RepoId;
+use radicle_crypto::ssh::keystore::MemorySigner;
+
 use crate::ipfs;
 use crate::lfs_crypto;
 use crate::terminal as term;
@@ -16,13 +21,32 @@ pub fn run(oid: String, size: i64, out: PathBuf, ctx: impl term::Context) -> any
     let (repo, rid) = radicle::rad::cwd()
         .context("`rad lfs fetch` must be run inside a Radicle repository working copy")?;
 
+    let mut signer = None;
+    fetch_object(&profile, &repo, rid, &oid, size, &out, &mut signer)
+}
+
+/// Fetches one LFS object's content from IPFS (decrypting it first for
+/// private repos) and writes it to `out`. Factored out of [`run`] so
+/// `rad lfs fetch-batch` can process many objects across a single
+/// process, loading (and prompting for) the signer at most once across
+/// however many objects it ends up handling, instead of once per object.
+#[allow(clippy::too_many_arguments)]
+pub fn fetch_object(
+    profile: &Profile,
+    repo: &Repository,
+    rid: RepoId,
+    oid: &str,
+    size: i64,
+    out: &Path,
+    signer: &mut Option<MemorySigner>,
+) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     let pointer_text =
         format!("version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1\noid sha256:{oid}\nsize {size}\n");
     let blob_oid = repo
         .blob(pointer_text.as_bytes())
         .context("failed to write LFS pointer blob")?;
 
-    let candidates = lfs_crypto::find_envelopes(&repo, blob_oid)
+    let candidates = lfs_crypto::find_envelopes(repo, blob_oid)
         .with_context(|| format!("failed to read LFS notes for oid {oid}"))?;
     if candidates.is_empty() {
         anyhow::bail!(
@@ -43,13 +67,16 @@ pub fn run(oid: String, size: i64, out: PathBuf, ctx: impl term::Context) -> any
         let result = match &envelope.enc {
             None => ipfs::cat(&envelope.cid),
             Some(enc) => ipfs::cat(&envelope.cid).and_then(|ciphertext| {
-                let signer = lfs_crypto::load_signer(&profile)?;
-                lfs_crypto::decrypt_with(&ciphertext, enc, &signer, profile.did(), &rid, &oid)
+                if signer.is_none() {
+                    *signer = Some(lfs_crypto::load_signer(profile)?);
+                }
+                let signer = signer.as_ref().expect("just populated above");
+                lfs_crypto::decrypt_with(&ciphertext, enc, signer, profile.did(), &rid, oid)
             }),
         };
         match result {
             Ok(bytes) => {
-                std::fs::write(&out, bytes)
+                std::fs::write(out, bytes)
                     .with_context(|| format!("failed to write `{}`", out.display()))?;
                 return Ok(());
             }
diff --git a/crates/radicle-cli/src/commands/lfs/fetch_batch.rs b/crates/radicle-cli/src/commands/lfs/fetch_batch.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f9151d39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/radicle-cli/src/commands/lfs/fetch_batch.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+//! `rad lfs fetch-batch` — long-lived plumbing worker invoked by the Git
+//! LFS custom transfer agent (`rad-lfs-transfer`) to download multiple LFS
+//! objects across a single process, kept alive for the lifetime of one
+//! `git lfs pull`/checkout session -- specifically so a private repo's
+//! passphrase is only prompted for once per session, not once per file.
+//!
+//! Unlike `rad lfs precommit`/`backfill` (which know every file upfront
+//! and can just read stdin until EOF), this can't collect a batch before
+//! starting: git-lfs's custom-transfer protocol requests objects one at a
+//! time by default (`rad-lfs-transfer` doesn't negotiate the "concurrent"
+//! capability), so the caller only knows about the next object once the
+//! previous one has been answered. This process instead stays alive and
+//! answers requests one at a time as they arrive, reusing the same
+//! unwrapped signer across all of them.
+//!
+//! Protocol (line-delimited, UTF-8, on stdin/stdout):
+//!   request:  "<oid> <size> <out-path>\n"
+//!   response: a JSON object, one line per request, in the same order:
+//!             `{"ok":true}` or `{"ok":false,"error":"<message>"}`
+//! The process exits cleanly on stdin EOF (the parent closing its write
+//! end signals the transfer session is over).
+
+use std::io::{BufRead as _, Write as _};
+use std::path::PathBuf;
+
+use anyhow::Context as _;
+use serde_json::json;
+
+use crate::terminal as term;
+
+use super::fetch::fetch_object;
+
+pub fn run(ctx: impl term::Context) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+    let profile = ctx.profile()?;
+    let (repo, rid) = radicle::rad::cwd()
+        .context("`rad lfs fetch-batch` must be run inside a Radicle repository working copy")?;
+
+    let mut signer = None;
+    let stdin = std::io::stdin();
+    let mut stdout = std::io::stdout();
+
+    for line in stdin.lock().lines() {
+        let line = line.context("failed to read stdin")?;
+        // Each line is "<oid> <size> <out-path>" -- oid is a fixed-length
+        // hex string and size is decimal, so splitting on the first two
+        // spaces leaves the path (which may itself contain spaces) intact
+        // as the remainder. Mirrors `rad lfs precommit`'s input format.
+        let mut parts = line.splitn(3, ' ');
+        let (Some(oid), Some(size), Some(out)) = (parts.next(), parts.next(), parts.next())
+        else {
+            anyhow::bail!("malformed `rad lfs fetch-batch` input line: {line:?}");
+        };
+        let Ok(size) = size.parse::<i64>() else {
+            anyhow::bail!("invalid size in `rad lfs fetch-batch` input: {size:?}");
+        };
+        let out = PathBuf::from(out);
+
+        let response = match fetch_object(&profile, &repo, rid, oid, size, &out, &mut signer) {
+            Ok(()) => json!({"ok": true}),
+            Err(err) => json!({"ok": false, "error": format!("{err:#}")}),
+        };
+        writeln!(stdout, "{response}").context("failed to write response")?;
+        stdout.flush().context("failed to flush stdout")?;
+    }
+
+    Ok(())
+}