diff --git a/docs/configuration/environment-variables.md b/docs/configuration/environment-variables.md
index 373601ebc..65191546a 100644
--- a/docs/configuration/environment-variables.md
+++ b/docs/configuration/environment-variables.md
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ The following list config variables have special meaning and can be set in a var
 | `DOKKU_DEPLOY_BRANCH`          | `master`                        | `dokku config:set`                                                                                                                               | Branch to deploy by default. |
 | `DOKKU_DISABLE_PROXY`          | none                            | `dokku proxy:disable` <br /> `dokku proxy:enable`                                                                                                | Disables the proxy in front of your application, resulting in publicly routing the docker container. |
 | `DOKKU_DISABLE_ANSI_PREFIX_REMOVAL` | none                       | `dokku config:set` <br /> `/etc/environment` <br /> `~dokku/.dokkurc` <br /> `~dokku/.dokkurc/*`                                                 | Disables removal of the ANSI prefix during deploys. Can be used in cases where the client deployer does not understand ansi escape  codes. |
+| `DOKKU_DISABLE_APP_AUTOCREATION` | none                            | `dokku config:set`                                                                                                                               | Disables automatic creation of a non-existent app on deploy. |
 | `DOKKU_DOCKER_STOP_TIMEOUT`    | `10`                            | `dokku config:set`                                                                                                                               | Configurable grace period given to the `docker stop` command. If a container has not stopped by this time, a `kill -9` signal or equivalent is sent in order to force-terminate the container. Both the `ps:stop` and `apps:destroy` commands _also_ respect this value. If not specified, the docker defaults for the [docker stop command](https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/commandline/stop/) will be used.|
 | `DOKKU_DOCKERFILE_CMD`         | dockerfile cmd                  | `dokku config:set`                                                                                                                               | |
 | `DOKKU_DOCKERFILE_CACHE_BUILD` | none                            | `dokku config:set`                                                                                                                               | |
@@ -119,4 +120,4 @@ The following list config variables have special meaning and can be set in a var
 | `DOKKU_SKIP_DEPLOY`            |                                 | `dokku config:set`                                                                                                                               | |
 | `DOKKU_SYSTEM_GROUP`           | `dokku`                         | `/etc/environment` <br /> `~dokku/.dokkurc` <br /> `~dokku/.dokkurc/*`                                                                           | System group to chown files as. |
 | `DOKKU_SYSTEM_USER`            | `dokku`                         | `/etc/environment` <br /> `~dokku/.dokkurc` <br /> `~dokku/.dokkurc/*`                                                                           | System user to chown files as. |
-| `DOKKU_WAIT_TO_RETIRE`         | `60`                            | `dokku config:set`                                                                                                                               | After a successful deploy, the grace period given to old containers before they are stopped/terminated. This is useful for ensuring completion of long-running http connections. |
+| `DOKKU_WAIT_TO_RETIRE`         | `60`                            | `dokku config:set`                                                                                                                               | After a successful deploy, the grace period given to old containers before they are stopped/terminated. This is useful for ensuring completion of long-running http connections. |
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/plugins/apps/functions b/plugins/apps/functions
index 97eafdd00..1bfbf49a2 100755
--- a/plugins/apps/functions
+++ b/plugins/apps/functions
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ apps_create() {
   [[ -d "$DOKKU_ROOT/$APP" ]] && dokku_log_fail "Name is already taken"
 
   mkdir -p "$DOKKU_ROOT/$APP"
-  echo "Creating $APP... done"
+  dokku_log_info1_quiet "Creating $APP... done"
   plugn trigger post-create "$APP"
 }
 
@@ -58,3 +58,18 @@ apps_exists() {
   [[ -d "$DOKKU_ROOT/$APP" ]] || dokku_log_fail "App does not exist"
   dokku_log_info1 "App already exists"
 }
+
+apps_maybe_create() {
+  declare desc="creates an app dir if allowed"
+  declare APP="$1"
+
+  if [[ ! -d "$DOKKU_ROOT/$APP" ]]; then
+    DOKKU_GLOBAL_DISABLE_AUTOCREATE="$(config_get --global DOKKU_DISABLE_APP_AUTOCREATION || true)"
+    if [[ "$DOKKU_GLOBAL_DISABLE_AUTOCREATE" == "true" ]]; then
+      dokku_log_warn "App auto-creation disabled."
+      dokku_log_fail " !     Re-enable app auto-creation or create an app with 'dokku apps:create ${APP}'"
+    else
+      suppress_output apps_create "$APP"
+    fi
+  fi
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/plugins/common/functions b/plugins/common/functions
index 82f82f077..f1ba349d9 100755
--- a/plugins/common/functions
+++ b/plugins/common/functions
@@ -1186,3 +1186,17 @@ release_app_deploy_lock() {
 
   flock -u "$APP_DEPLOY_LOCK_FD" && rm -f "$APP_DEPLOY_LOCK_FILE" &> /dev/null
 }
+
+suppress_output() {
+  declare desc="suppress all output from a given command unless there is an error"
+  local TMP_COMMAND_OUTPUT
+  TMP_COMMAND_OUTPUT=$(mktemp "/tmp/${FUNCNAME[0]}.XXXX")
+  trap 'rm -rf "$TMP_COMMAND_OUTPUT" > /dev/null' RETURN INT TERM EXIT
+
+  "$@" > "$TMP_COMMAND_OUTPUT" 2>&1 || {
+    local exit_code="$?"
+    cat "$TMP_COMMAND_OUTPUT"
+    return "$exit_code"
+  }
+  return 0
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/plugins/git/functions b/plugins/git/functions
index 0ae67bd7d..e1189448e 100755
--- a/plugins/git/functions
+++ b/plugins/git/functions
@@ -23,8 +23,10 @@ use_git_worktree() {
 
 git_build_app_repo() {
   declare desc="builds local git app repo for app"
-  verify_app_name "$1"
-  local APP="$1"; local REV="$2"
+  declare APP="$1"; local REV="$2"
+  local DOKKU_GLOBAL_DISABLE_AUTOCREATE
+
+  verify_app_name "$APP"
 
   # clean up after ourselves
   local GIT_BUILD_APP_REPO_TMP_WORK_DIR=$(mktemp -d "/tmp/dokku_git.XXXX")
@@ -33,7 +35,8 @@ git_build_app_repo() {
   local TMP_TAG="dokku/$REV"
   chmod 755 "$GIT_BUILD_APP_REPO_TMP_WORK_DIR"
   unset GIT_DIR GIT_WORK_TREE
-  [[ ! -d "$DOKKU_ROOT/$APP" ]] && apps_create "$APP"
+
+  [[ ! -d "$DOKKU_ROOT/$APP" ]] && apps_maybe_create "$APP"
 
   if use_git_worktree; then
     # git worktree - this method uses git worktree which was introduced in git 2.5
@@ -96,20 +99,6 @@ git_trigger_build() {
   fi
 }
 
-suppress_output() {
-  declare desc="suppress all output from a given command unless there is an error"
-  local TMP_COMMAND_OUTPUT
-  TMP_COMMAND_OUTPUT=$(mktemp "/tmp/${FUNCNAME[0]}.XXXX")
-  trap 'rm -rf "$TMP_COMMAND_OUTPUT" > /dev/null' RETURN INT TERM EXIT
-
-  "$@" > "$TMP_COMMAND_OUTPUT" 2>&1 || {
-    local exit_code="$?"
-    cat "$TMP_COMMAND_OUTPUT"
-    return "$exit_code"
-  }
-  return 0
-}
-
 git_deploy_branch() {
   declare desc="retrieve the deploy branch for a given application"
   local cmd="git-hook"
@@ -196,6 +185,8 @@ git_upload_pack_cmd() {
   declare APP="$2"
   APP="$(echo "$APP" | perl -pe 's/(?<!\\)'\''//g' | sed 's/\\'\''/'\''/g' | sed 's/^\///g')"
   is_valid_app_name "$APP"
+  [[ ! -d "$DOKKU_ROOT/$APP" ]] && apps_maybe_create "$APP"
+
   plugn trigger git-pre-pull "$APP"
   cat | git-upload-pack "$DOKKU_ROOT/$APP"
   plugn trigger git-post-pull "$APP"
@@ -209,6 +200,8 @@ git_glob_cmd() {
   is_valid_app_name "$APP"
 
   if [[ $1 == "git-receive-pack" && ! -d "$APP_PATH/refs" ]]; then
+    [[ ! -d "$DOKKU_ROOT/$APP" ]] && apps_maybe_create "$APP"
+
     git init --bare "$APP_PATH" > /dev/null
     local PRERECEIVE_HOOK="$APP_PATH/hooks/pre-receive"
     cat > "$PRERECEIVE_HOOK" <<EOF
diff --git a/tests/unit/10_apps.bats b/tests/unit/10_apps.bats
index 5fb722f6b..aa4052802 100644
--- a/tests/unit/10_apps.bats
+++ b/tests/unit/10_apps.bats
@@ -53,6 +53,19 @@ teardown () {
   destroy_app
 }
 
+@test "(apps) app autocreate disabled" {
+  run dokku config:set --no-restart --global DOKKU_DISABLE_APP_AUTOCREATION='true'
+  echo "output: "$output
+  echo "status: "$status
+  assert_success
+
+  run deploy_app
+  echo "output: "$output
+  echo "status: "$status
+  assert_failure
+  run dokku config:unset --no-restart --global DOKKU_DISABLE_APP_AUTOCREATION
+}
+
 @test "(apps) apps:destroy" {
   create_app
   run bash -c "dokku --force apps:destroy $TEST_APP"