diff --git a/.vscode/launch.json b/.vscode/launch.json
index 9e7a696f508..0e9af305bd6 100644
--- a/.vscode/launch.json
+++ b/.vscode/launch.json
@@ -115,7 +115,8 @@
                 "--all",
                 "--commit-to=snapshot/v1",
                 "--commit-orgs-to=cfapi/orgs/v1",
-                // "--orgs-source=file://${workspaceFolder}/crawler/lib/repositories/organizations/__fixtures__/test-organizations.json"
+                "--orgs-source=file://${workspaceFolder}/crawler/lib/repositories/organizations/__fixtures__/test-organizations.json",
+                "--scratch-git-dir=/tmp/bpi-scratch.git"
             ],
             "skipFiles": [
                 "<node_internals>/**"
diff --git a/crawler/lib/ScratchGit.js b/crawler/lib/ScratchGit.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..821180e88de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crawler/lib/ScratchGit.js
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+const logger = require('winston');
+const tmp = require('tmp-promise');
+const gitUp = require('git-up');
+const exitHook = require('async-exit-hook');
+const { Repo } = require('hologit/lib');
+const { default: PQueue } = require('p-queue');
+
+let cachedRepo = null;
+let cachedGit  = null;
+const cachedFetchResults = new Map();
+const fetchQueue = new PQueue({ concurrency: 1 });
+const { GITHUB_ACTOR, GITHUB_TOKEN } = process.env;
+
+module.exports = class ScratchGit {
+
+    /**
+     * Set the path of a persistent git directory to use as scratch space
+     * for all future operations
+     * @param {string} gitDir
+     */
+    static async setPersistentGitDir (gitDir) {
+        // initialize hologit Repo instance
+        cachedRepo = new Repo({
+            gitDir: gitDir,
+            ref: 'HEAD'
+        });
+        cachedGit = await cachedRepo.getGit();
+
+        logger.info(`initializing persistent GIT_DIR=${gitDir}`);
+        await cachedGit.init({ bare: true });
+    }
+
+    static async getRepo () {
+        if (!cachedRepo) {
+            // create temporary git directory
+            const gitDir = await tmp.dir({ unsafeCleanup: true });
+            exitHook(callback => gitDir.cleanup().then(callback));
+
+            // initialize hologit Repo instance
+            cachedRepo = new Repo({
+                gitDir: gitDir.path,
+                ref: 'HEAD'
+            });
+            cachedGit = await cachedRepo.getGit();
+
+            logger.info(`initializing temporary GIT_DIR=${gitDir.path}`);
+            await cachedGit.init({ bare: true });
+        }
+
+        return cachedRepo;
+    }
+
+    static async getGit () {
+        if (!cachedGit) {
+            // will set cachedGit
+            await this.getRepo();
+        }
+
+        return cachedGit;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Fetch the current commit hash for given url/ref
+     * @param {string} url
+     * @param {string=HEAD} ref
+     */
+    static async fetchRemote (url, ref = 'HEAD') {
+        return fetchQueue.add(async () => {
+            const { resource, pathname } = gitUp(url);
+            const remoteKey = `${resource}${pathname.replace(/\.git$/i, '')}/${ref}`;
+
+            if (cachedFetchResults.has(remoteKey)) {
+                return cachedFetchResults.get(remoteKey);
+            }
+
+            let fetchUrl;
+            if (resource == 'github.com') {
+                fetchUrl = `https://${GITHUB_ACTOR}:${GITHUB_TOKEN}@github.com${pathname}.git`;
+            } else {
+                fetchUrl = url;
+            }
+
+            const cacheRef = `refs/crawler-cache/${remoteKey}`;
+            const git = await this.getGit();
+
+            logger.debug(`fetching ${url}#${ref}`);
+            try {
+                const fetchResult = await git.fetch({ depth: 1, tags: false }, fetchUrl, `+${ref}:${cacheRef}`);
+                logger.silly(`fetched ${url}#${ref}: ${fetchResult}`);
+                return git.revParse({ verify: true }, cacheRef, { $nullOnError: true });
+            } catch (err) {
+                logger.debug(`could not fetch ${url}#${ref}: ${err}`);
+            }
+        });
+    }
+};
diff --git a/crawler/lib/decorators/Git.js b/crawler/lib/decorators/Git.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5a298843566
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crawler/lib/decorators/Git.js
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+const logger = require('winston');
+const gitUp = require('git-up');
+
+const ScratchGit = require('../ScratchGit.js');
+
+/**
+ * Decorate a project with data about its git repository
+ * @class
+ */
+module.exports = class GitDecorator {
+
+    static async canDecorate ({ code_url = null, github = null, git = null }) {
+        if (!code_url) {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        const { resource, pathname, protocols } = gitUp(code_url);
+
+        return Boolean(resource && pathname && protocols.length && github !== false);
+    }
+
+    static async decorate (projectData) {
+        // TODO: sniff ${url}/info/refs for HTTP to catch bad repos? ehh github doesn't like
+        const commitHash = await ScratchGit.fetchRemote(projectData.code_url);
+
+        projectData.git = commitHash ? { head: commitHash } : false;
+    }
+};
diff --git a/crawler/lib/decorators/PublicCode.js b/crawler/lib/decorators/PublicCode.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..664441795da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crawler/lib/decorators/PublicCode.js
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+const logger = require('winston');
+const gitUp = require('git-up');
+const yaml = require('js-yaml');
+
+const ScratchGit = require('../ScratchGit.js');
+
+/**
+ * Decorate a project with publiccode.yml data from git
+ * @class
+ */
+module.exports = class PublicCodeDecorator {
+
+    static async canDecorate ({ git = null }) {
+        return Boolean(git && git.head);
+    }
+
+    static async decorate (projectData) {
+        const git = await ScratchGit.getGit();
+
+        let publicCodeData;
+
+        const publicCodeString = await git.catFile({ p: true }, `${projectData.git.head}:publiccode.yml`, { $nullOnError: true });
+        if (publicCodeString) {
+            try {
+                publicCodeData = yaml.safeLoad(publicCodeString);
+            } catch (err) {
+                logger.warn(`failed to load ${projectData.code_url}/publiccode.yml: ${err}`);
+                projectData['publiccode.yml'] = false;
+            }
+        }
+
+        projectData['publiccode.yml'] = publicCodeData || false;
+    }
+};
diff --git a/crawler/lib/decorators/__tests__/PublicCode.test.js b/crawler/lib/decorators/__tests__/PublicCode.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..236e3d3179e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crawler/lib/decorators/__tests__/PublicCode.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+const PublicCode = require('../PublicCode.js');
+
+
+describe('Project Decorator: PublicCode', () => {
+
+    test('populates publiccode', async () => {
+        const projectData = {
+            code_url: 'https://github.com/italia/18app'
+        };
+
+        expect(await PublicCode.canDecorate(projectData)).toBeTrue();
+
+        await PublicCode.decorate(projectData);
+
+        expect(projectData['publiccode.yml']).toBeObject();
+        expect(projectData['publiccode.yml']).toHaveProperty('url', 'https://github.com/italia/18app');
+        expect(projectData['publiccode.yml']).toContainKeys([
+            'categories',
+            'description',
+            'developmentStatus',
+            'intendedAudience',
+            'it',
+            'legal',
+            'localisation',
+            'logo',
+            'maintenance',
+            'name',
+            'platforms',
+            'publiccodeYmlVersion',
+            'releaseDate',
+            'softwareType',
+            'url',
+        ]);
+        expect(projectData['publiccode.yml'].categories).toBeArray();
+        expect(projectData['publiccode.yml'].categories).toEqual(['mobile-payment']);
+
+    });
+
+});
diff --git a/crawler/lib/decorators/index.js b/crawler/lib/decorators/index.js
index 8f6fb87e004..1348b085652 100644
--- a/crawler/lib/decorators/index.js
+++ b/crawler/lib/decorators/index.js
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 const decoratorClasses = {
     GitHubRepository: require('./GitHubRepository.js'),
+    Git: require('./Git.js'),
+    // PublicCode: require('./PublicCode.js'),
 };
 
 /**
diff --git a/crawler/lib/repositories/organizations/__fixtures__/test-organizations.json b/crawler/lib/repositories/organizations/__fixtures__/test-organizations.json
index 735217efdd8..38564b4271c 100644
--- a/crawler/lib/repositories/organizations/__fixtures__/test-organizations.json
+++ b/crawler/lib/repositories/organizations/__fixtures__/test-organizations.json
@@ -77,5 +77,22 @@
             "Code for America",
             "Official"
         ]
+    },
+    {
+        "name": "Code for Gainesville",
+        "website": "http://c4gnv.com",
+        "events_url": "http://www.meetup.com/Code-for-Gainesville/",
+        "rss": "",
+        "projects_list_url": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15DOB5ctu8aJEkaE1pjBIvRaZBG2wjbpJaUQUa6UL9bM/pub?output=csv",
+        "city": "Gainesville, FL",
+        "latitude": "29.651634",
+        "longitude": "-82.324826",
+        "type": "Brigade",
+        "social_profiles": {
+            "twitter": "@c4gnv"
+        },
+        "tags": [
+            "Brigade"
+        ]
     }
   ]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/crawler/package-lock.json b/crawler/package-lock.json
index a79df07864f..411e5c63c74 100644
--- a/crawler/package-lock.json
+++ b/crawler/package-lock.json
@@ -1501,7 +1501,6 @@
       "version": "1.0.10",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/argparse/-/argparse-1.0.10.tgz",
       "integrity": "sha512-o5Roy6tNG4SL/FOkCAN6RzjiakZS25RLYFrcMttJqbdd8BWrnA+fGz57iN5Pb06pvBGvl5gQ0B48dJlslXvoTg==",
-      "dev": true,
       "requires": {
         "sprintf-js": "~1.0.2"
       }
@@ -1569,6 +1568,11 @@
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/async-each/-/async-each-1.0.3.tgz",
       "integrity": "sha512-z/WhQ5FPySLdvREByI2vZiTWwCnF0moMJ1hK9YQwDTHKh6I7/uSckMetoRGb5UBZPC1z0jlw+n/XCgjeH7y1AQ=="
     },
+    "async-exit-hook": {
+      "version": "2.0.1",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/async-exit-hook/-/async-exit-hook-2.0.1.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-NW2cX8m1Q7KPA7a5M2ULQeZ2wR5qI5PAbw5L0UOMxdioVk9PMZ0h1TmyZEkPYrCvYjDlFICusOu1dlEKAAeXBw=="
+    },
     "asynckit": {
       "version": "0.4.0",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/asynckit/-/asynckit-0.4.0.tgz",
@@ -2666,8 +2670,7 @@
     "esprima": {
       "version": "4.0.1",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/esprima/-/esprima-4.0.1.tgz",
-      "integrity": "sha512-eGuFFw7Upda+g4p+QHvnW0RyTX/SVeJBDM/gCtMARO0cLuT2HcEKnTPvhjV6aGeqrCB/sbNop0Kszm0jsaWU4A==",
-      "dev": true
+      "integrity": "sha512-eGuFFw7Upda+g4p+QHvnW0RyTX/SVeJBDM/gCtMARO0cLuT2HcEKnTPvhjV6aGeqrCB/sbNop0Kszm0jsaWU4A=="
     },
     "esquery": {
       "version": "1.1.0",
@@ -2699,6 +2702,11 @@
       "integrity": "sha512-kVscqXk4OCp68SZ0dkgEKVi6/8ij300KBWTJq32P/dYeWTSwK41WyTxalN1eRmA5Z9UU/LX9D7FWSmV9SAYx6g==",
       "dev": true
     },
+    "eventemitter3": {
+      "version": "4.0.7",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/eventemitter3/-/eventemitter3-4.0.7.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-8guHBZCwKnFhYdHr2ysuRWErTwhoN2X8XELRlrRwpmfeY2jjuUN4taQMsULKUVo1K4DvZl+0pgfyoysHxvmvEw=="
+    },
     "exec-sh": {
       "version": "0.3.4",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/exec-sh/-/exec-sh-0.3.4.tgz",
@@ -3636,6 +3644,33 @@
         "semver": "^5.7.0"
       }
     },
+    "git-up": {
+      "version": "4.0.5",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/git-up/-/git-up-4.0.5.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-YUvVDg/vX3d0syBsk/CKUTib0srcQME0JyHkL5BaYdwLsiCslPWmDSi8PUMo9pXYjrryMcmsCoCgsTpSCJEQaA==",
+      "requires": {
+        "is-ssh": "^1.3.0",
+        "parse-url": "^6.0.0"
+      },
+      "dependencies": {
+        "normalize-url": {
+          "version": "6.1.0",
+          "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/normalize-url/-/normalize-url-6.1.0.tgz",
+          "integrity": "sha512-DlL+XwOy3NxAQ8xuC0okPgK46iuVNAK01YN7RueYBqqFeGsBjV9XmCAzAdgt+667bCl5kPh9EqKKDwnaPG1I7A=="
+        },
+        "parse-url": {
+          "version": "6.0.0",
+          "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/parse-url/-/parse-url-6.0.0.tgz",
+          "integrity": "sha512-cYyojeX7yIIwuJzledIHeLUBVJ6COVLeT4eF+2P6aKVzwvgKQPndCBv3+yQ7pcWjqToYwaligxzSYNNmGoMAvw==",
+          "requires": {
+            "is-ssh": "^1.3.0",
+            "normalize-url": "^6.1.0",
+            "parse-path": "^4.0.0",
+            "protocols": "^1.4.0"
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    },
     "gitsheets": {
       "version": "0.2.2",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/gitsheets/-/gitsheets-0.2.2.tgz",
@@ -6609,7 +6644,6 @@
       "version": "3.13.1",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/js-yaml/-/js-yaml-3.13.1.tgz",
       "integrity": "sha512-YfbcO7jXDdyj0DGxYVSlSeQNHbD7XPWvrVWeVUujrQEoZzWJIRrCPoyk6kL6IAjAG2IolMK4T0hNUe0HOUs5Jw==",
-      "dev": true,
       "requires": {
         "argparse": "^1.0.7",
         "esprima": "^4.0.0"
@@ -7411,6 +7445,23 @@
         "p-limit": "^2.0.0"
       }
     },
+    "p-queue": {
+      "version": "6.6.2",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/p-queue/-/p-queue-6.6.2.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-RwFpb72c/BhQLEXIZ5K2e+AhgNVmIejGlTgiB9MzZ0e93GRvqZ7uSi0dvRF7/XIXDeNkra2fNHBxTyPDGySpjQ==",
+      "requires": {
+        "eventemitter3": "^4.0.4",
+        "p-timeout": "^3.2.0"
+      }
+    },
+    "p-timeout": {
+      "version": "3.2.0",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/p-timeout/-/p-timeout-3.2.0.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-rhIwUycgwwKcP9yTOOFK/AKsAopjjCakVqLHePO3CC6Mir1Z99xT+R63jZxAT5lFZLa2inS5h+ZS2GvR99/FBg==",
+      "requires": {
+        "p-finally": "^1.0.0"
+      }
+    },
     "p-try": {
       "version": "2.2.0",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/p-try/-/p-try-2.2.0.tgz",
@@ -8387,8 +8438,7 @@
     "sprintf-js": {
       "version": "1.0.3",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/sprintf-js/-/sprintf-js-1.0.3.tgz",
-      "integrity": "sha1-BOaSb2YolTVPPdAVIDYzuFcpfiw=",
-      "dev": true
+      "integrity": "sha1-BOaSb2YolTVPPdAVIDYzuFcpfiw="
     },
     "sshpk": {
       "version": "1.16.1",
diff --git a/crawler/package.json b/crawler/package.json
index e4b41f400a4..166d5c6cef0 100644
--- a/crawler/package.json
+++ b/crawler/package.json
@@ -5,9 +5,13 @@
   "author": "Chris Alfano <chris@jarv.us>",
   "license": "Apache-2.0",
   "dependencies": {
+    "async-exit-hook": "^2.0.1",
     "axios": "^0.19.2",
     "csv-parser": "^2.3.3",
+    "git-up": "^4.0.1",
     "gitsheets": "^0.2.2",
+    "js-yaml": "^3.13.1",
+    "p-queue": "^6.3.0",
     "parse-link-header": "^1.0.1",
     "progress": "^2.0.3",
     "yargs": "^14.2.3"
diff --git a/crawler/run.js b/crawler/run.js
index 1df238949fa..62debbea547 100755
--- a/crawler/run.js
+++ b/crawler/run.js
@@ -50,6 +50,10 @@ require('yargs')
                 describe: 'A target branch/ref to commit the imported orgs tree to',
                 type: 'string'
             },
+            'scratch-git-dir': {
+                describe: 'Path to a directory to use as a persistent scratch git repository',
+                type: 'string'
+            },
             debug: {
                 describe: 'Enable more verbose output',
                 type: 'boolean',
@@ -72,6 +76,7 @@ require('yargs')
                 commitOrgsTo,
 
                 // run options
+                scratchGitDir = process.env.SCRATCH_GIT_DIR || null,
                 debug,
             } = argv;
 
@@ -87,6 +92,12 @@ require('yargs')
             }));
 
 
+            // configure scratch git dir
+            if (scratchGitDir) {
+                await require('./lib/ScratchGit.js').setPersistentGitDir(scratchGitDir);
+            }
+
+
             // prepare interfaces
             const sheets = await GitSheets.create();
             const { repo, git } = sheets;