diff --git a/.changeset/brown-fans-push.md b/.changeset/brown-fans-push.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6f12af80c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/brown-fans-push.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@keystatic/core': patch
+---
+
+Add `treeFetchStrategy` to `createGitHubReader`
diff --git a/packages/keystatic/src/reader/github.ts b/packages/keystatic/src/reader/github.ts
index 38ae187da..dcde54ea1 100644
--- a/packages/keystatic/src/reader/github.ts
+++ b/packages/keystatic/src/reader/github.ts
@@ -24,27 +24,16 @@ export type Reader<
   },
 > = BaseReader<Collections, Singletons>;
 
-export function createGitHubReader<
-  Collections extends {
-    [key: string]: Collection<Record<string, ComponentSchema>, string>;
-  },
-  Singletons extends {
-    [key: string]: Singleton<Record<string, ComponentSchema>>;
-  },
->(
-  config: Config<Collections, Singletons>,
-  opts: {
-    repo: `${string}/${string}`;
-    pathPrefix?: string;
-    ref?: string;
-    token?: string;
-  }
-): Reader<Collections, Singletons> {
-  const ref = opts.ref ?? 'HEAD';
-  const pathPrefix = opts.pathPrefix ? fixPath(opts.pathPrefix) + '/' : '';
+function createMinimalFsForGitHubWithRecursiveTree(opts: {
+  token: string | undefined;
+  ref: string;
+  pathPrefix: string;
+  fetch: typeof globalThis.fetch;
+  repo: string;
+}): MinimalFs {
   const getTree = cache(async function loadTree() {
-    const res = await fetch(
-      `https://api.github.com/repos/${opts.repo}/git/trees/${ref}?recursive=1`,
+    const res = await opts.fetch(
+      `https://api.github.com/repos/${opts.repo}/git/trees/${opts.ref}?recursive=1`,
       {
         headers: opts.token ? { Authorization: `Bearer ${opts.token}` } : {},
         cache: 'no-store',
@@ -58,15 +47,21 @@ export function createGitHubReader<
     const { tree, sha }: { tree: TreeEntry[]; sha: string } = await res.json();
     return { tree: treeEntriesToTreeNodes(tree), sha };
   });
-  const fs: MinimalFs = {
+  return {
     async fileExists(path) {
       const { tree } = await getTree();
-      const node = getTreeNodeAtPath(tree, fixPath(`${pathPrefix}${path}`));
+      const node = getTreeNodeAtPath(
+        tree,
+        fixPath(`${opts.pathPrefix}${path}`)
+      );
       return node?.entry.type === 'blob';
     },
     async readdir(path) {
       const { tree } = await getTree();
-      const node = getTreeNodeAtPath(tree, fixPath(`${pathPrefix}${path}`));
+      const node = getTreeNodeAtPath(
+        tree,
+        fixPath(`${opts.pathPrefix}${path}`)
+      );
       if (!node?.children) return [];
       const filtered: { name: string; kind: 'file' | 'directory' }[] = [];
       for (const [name, val] of node.children) {
@@ -81,8 +76,8 @@ export function createGitHubReader<
     },
     async readFile(path) {
       const { sha } = await getTree();
-      const res = await fetch(
-        `https://raw.githubusercontent.com/${opts.repo}/${sha}/${pathPrefix}${path}`,
+      const res = await opts.fetch(
+        `https://raw.githubusercontent.com/${opts.repo}/${sha}/${opts.pathPrefix}${path}`,
         { headers: opts.token ? { Authorization: `Bearer ${opts.token}` } : {} }
       );
       if (res.status === 404) return null;
@@ -92,6 +87,146 @@ export function createGitHubReader<
       return new Uint8Array(await res.arrayBuffer());
     },
   };
+}
+
+const lastPartOfPathRegex = /[^/](.+)$/;
+
+function toTreeNodes(entries: TreeEntry[]) {
+  const nodes = new Map<string, TreeEntry>();
+  for (const entry of entries) {
+    const lastPart = entry.path.match(lastPartOfPathRegex)?.[1];
+    if (!lastPart) continue;
+    nodes.set(lastPart, entry);
+  }
+  return nodes;
+}
+
+function createMinimalFsForGitHubWithShallowTree(opts: {
+  token: string | undefined;
+  ref: string;
+  pathPrefix: string;
+  fetch: typeof globalThis.fetch;
+  repo: string;
+}): MinimalFs {
+  const getRootTree = cache(async function loadTree() {
+    const res = await opts.fetch(
+      `https://api.github.com/repos/${opts.repo}/git/trees/${opts.ref}`,
+      {
+        headers: opts.token ? { Authorization: `Bearer ${opts.token}` } : {},
+        cache: 'no-store',
+      }
+    );
+    if (!res.ok) {
+      throw new Error(
+        `Failed to fetch tree: ${res.status} ${await res.text()}`
+      );
+    }
+    const { tree, sha }: { tree: TreeEntry[]; sha: string } = await res.json();
+
+    return { tree: toTreeNodes(tree), sha };
+  });
+  const getChildTree = cache(async function loadChildTree(treeSha: string) {
+    const res = await opts.fetch(
+      `https://api.github.com/repos/${opts.repo}/git/trees/${treeSha}`,
+      { headers: opts.token ? { Authorization: `Bearer ${opts.token}` } : {} }
+    );
+    if (!res.ok) {
+      throw new Error(
+        `Failed to fetch tree: ${res.status} ${await res.text()}`
+      );
+    }
+    const { tree }: { tree: TreeEntry[] } = await res.json();
+    return toTreeNodes(tree);
+  });
+
+  async function getTreeForPath(path: string[]) {
+    const { tree } = await getRootTree();
+    let currentTree = tree;
+    for (const part of path) {
+      const node = currentTree.get(part);
+      if (node?.type !== 'tree') return undefined;
+      currentTree = await getChildTree(node.sha);
+    }
+    return currentTree;
+  }
+  return {
+    async fileExists(path) {
+      const fullPath = fixPath(`${opts.pathPrefix}${path}`).split('/');
+      const tree = await getTreeForPath(fullPath.slice(0, -1));
+      return tree?.get(fullPath[fullPath.length - 1])?.type === 'blob';
+    },
+    async readdir(path) {
+      const fullPath = fixPath(`${opts.pathPrefix}${path}`).split('/');
+      const tree = await getTreeForPath(fullPath);
+      if (!tree) return [];
+      const filtered: { name: string; kind: 'file' | 'directory' }[] = [];
+      for (const [name, val] of tree) {
+        if (val.type === 'tree') {
+          filtered.push({ name, kind: 'directory' });
+        }
+        if (val.type === 'blob') {
+          filtered.push({ name, kind: 'file' });
+        }
+      }
+      return filtered;
+    },
+    async readFile(path) {
+      const { sha } = await getRootTree();
+      const res = await opts.fetch(
+        `https://raw.githubusercontent.com/${opts.repo}/${sha}/${opts.pathPrefix}${path}`,
+        { headers: opts.token ? { Authorization: `Bearer ${opts.token}` } : {} }
+      );
+      if (res.status === 404) return null;
+      if (!res.ok) {
+        throw new Error(`Failed to fetch ${path}: ${await res.text()}`);
+      }
+      return new Uint8Array(await res.arrayBuffer());
+    },
+  };
+}
+
+export function createGitHubReader<
+  Collections extends {
+    [key: string]: Collection<Record<string, ComponentSchema>, string>;
+  },
+  Singletons extends {
+    [key: string]: Singleton<Record<string, ComponentSchema>>;
+  },
+>(
+  config: Config<Collections, Singletons>,
+  opts: {
+    repo: `${string}/${string}`;
+    pathPrefix?: string;
+    ref?: string;
+    token?: string;
+    /**
+     * - `recursive` fetches the entire git tree at once, which is faster
+     *    latency-wise but downloads more data and each tree can't be cached
+     * - `shallow` fetches each level of the tree as needed
+     *   This will be worse latency-wise because there will be more
+     *   round-trips to GitHub but less data will be downloaded
+     *   and each tree can be cached separately
+     *
+     * @default 'recursive'
+     */
+    treeFetchStrategy?: 'recursive' | 'shallow';
+    fetch?: typeof globalThis.fetch;
+  }
+): Reader<Collections, Singletons> {
+  const fetch = opts.fetch ?? globalThis.fetch;
+  const ref = opts.ref ?? 'HEAD';
+  const pathPrefix = opts.pathPrefix ? fixPath(opts.pathPrefix) + '/' : '';
+  const fs = (
+    opts.treeFetchStrategy === 'shallow'
+      ? createMinimalFsForGitHubWithShallowTree
+      : createMinimalFsForGitHubWithRecursiveTree
+  )({
+    pathPrefix,
+    ref,
+    token: opts.token,
+    fetch,
+    repo: opts.repo,
+  });
   return {
     collections: Object.fromEntries(
       Object.keys(config.collections || {}).map(key => [