diff --git a/hgext/sqlitestore.py b/hgext/sqlitestore.py
--- a/hgext/sqlitestore.py
+++ b/hgext/sqlitestore.py
@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@
 REQUIREMENT_ZSTD = b'exp-sqlite-comp-001=zstd'
 REQUIREMENT_ZLIB = b'exp-sqlite-comp-001=zlib'
 REQUIREMENT_NONE = b'exp-sqlite-comp-001=none'
+REQUIREMENT_SHALLOW_FILES = b'exp-sqlite-shallow-files'
 
 CURRENT_SCHEMA_VERSION = 1
 
@@ -1014,6 +1015,8 @@
 
     supported.add(REQUIREMENT_ZLIB)
     supported.add(REQUIREMENT_NONE)
+    supported.add(REQUIREMENT_SHALLOW_FILES)
+    supported.add(repository.NARROW_REQUIREMENT)
 
 def newreporequirements(orig, ui, createopts):
     if createopts['backend'] != 'sqlite':
@@ -1030,6 +1033,7 @@
     known = {
         'narrowfiles',
         'backend',
+        'shallowfilestore',
     }
 
     unsupported = set(createopts) - known
@@ -1061,6 +1065,9 @@
         raise error.Abort(_('unknown compression engine defined in '
                             'storage.sqlite.compression: %s') % compression)
 
+    if createopts.get('shallowfilestore'):
+        requirements.add(REQUIREMENT_SHALLOW_FILES)
+
     return requirements
 
 @interfaceutil.implementer(repository.ilocalrepositoryfilestorage)
@@ -1082,12 +1089,15 @@
 
         return sqlitefilestore(self._dbconn, path, compression)
 
-def makefilestorage(orig, requirements, **kwargs):
+def makefilestorage(orig, requirements, features, **kwargs):
     """Produce a type conforming to ``ilocalrepositoryfilestorage``."""
     if REQUIREMENT in requirements:
+        if REQUIREMENT_SHALLOW_FILES in requirements:
+            features.add(repository.REPO_FEATURE_SHALLOW_FILE_STORAGE)
+
         return sqlitefilestorage
     else:
-        return orig(requirements=requirements, **kwargs)
+        return orig(requirements=requirements, features=features, **kwargs)
 
 def makemain(orig, ui, requirements, **kwargs):
     if REQUIREMENT in requirements:
diff --git a/mercurial/hg.py b/mercurial/hg.py
--- a/mercurial/hg.py
+++ b/mercurial/hg.py
@@ -578,6 +578,9 @@
 
         createopts['narrowfiles'] = True
 
+    if depth:
+        createopts['shallowfilestore'] = True
+
     if srcpeer.capable(b'lfs-serve'):
         # Repository creation honors the config if it disabled the extension, so
         # we can't just announce that lfs will be enabled.  This check avoids
diff --git a/mercurial/localrepo.py b/mercurial/localrepo.py
--- a/mercurial/localrepo.py
+++ b/mercurial/localrepo.py
@@ -2922,6 +2922,7 @@
         'sharedrepo',
         'sharedrelative',
         'shareditems',
+        'shallowfilestore',
     }
 
     return {k: v for k, v in createopts.items() if k not in known}
@@ -2949,6 +2950,9 @@
        is stored as an absolute path.
     shareditems
        Set of items to share to the new repository (in addition to storage).
+    shallowfilestore
+       Indicates that storage for files should be shallow (not all ancestor
+       revisions are known).
     """
     createopts = defaultcreateopts(ui, createopts=createopts)
 
diff --git a/mercurial/repository.py b/mercurial/repository.py
--- a/mercurial/repository.py
+++ b/mercurial/repository.py
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@
 REPO_FEATURE_LFS = b'lfs'
 # Repository supports being stream cloned.
 REPO_FEATURE_STREAM_CLONE = b'streamclone'
+# Files storage may lack data for all ancestors.
+REPO_FEATURE_SHALLOW_FILE_STORAGE = b'shallowfilestorage'
 
 REVISION_FLAG_CENSORED = 1 << 15
 REVISION_FLAG_ELLIPSIS = 1 << 14