diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/AutoReloadSecureCredentialsFactoryDecorator.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/AutoReloadSecureCredentialsFactoryDecorator.java
index 32c439b..0bf9026 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/AutoReloadSecureCredentialsFactoryDecorator.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/AutoReloadSecureCredentialsFactoryDecorator.java
@@ -46,9 +46,10 @@
         new AtomicReference<>(newSecureCredentialsFactory(site, secureStore, config));
     if (config.useLegacyCredentials()) {
       logger.atWarning().log(
-          "Using legacy credentials in clear text in secure.config. Please encrypt your credentials using "
-              + "'java -jar gerrit.war passwd' for each remote, remove the gerrit.useLegacyCredentials in replication.config "
-              + "and then reload the replication plugin.");
+          "Using legacy credentials in clear text in secure.config. Please encrypt your credentials"
+              + " using 'java -jar gerrit.war passwd' for each remote, remove the"
+              + " gerrit.useLegacyCredentials in replication.config and then reload the replication"
+              + " plugin.");
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/CreateProjectTask.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/CreateProjectTask.java
index 00f8baf..8cbb2a2 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/CreateProjectTask.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/CreateProjectTask.java
@@ -51,8 +51,10 @@
   }
 
   public boolean create() {
-    return destinations.getURIs(Optional.of(config.getName()), project, FilterType.PROJECT_CREATION)
-        .values().stream()
+    return destinations
+        .getURIs(Optional.of(config.getName()), project, FilterType.PROJECT_CREATION)
+        .values()
+        .stream()
         .map(u -> createProject(u, project, head))
         .reduce(true, (a, b) -> a && b);
   }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/Destination.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/Destination.java
index 3d7ae36..d535934 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/Destination.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/Destination.java
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.locks.ReadWriteLock;
 import java.util.function.Function;
 import java.util.function.Supplier;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Constants;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Ref;
@@ -890,6 +891,10 @@
     return config.replicateNoteDbMetaRefs();
   }
 
+  ImmutableList<Pattern> excludedRefsPattern() {
+    return config.excludedRefsPattern();
+  }
+
   private static boolean matches(URIish uri, String urlMatch) {
     if (urlMatch == null || urlMatch.equals("") || urlMatch.equals("*")) {
       return true;
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/DestinationConfiguration.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/DestinationConfiguration.java
index 4d72ff0..41ab4c4 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/DestinationConfiguration.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/DestinationConfiguration.java
@@ -20,8 +20,12 @@
 import com.google.common.base.MoreObjects;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.config.ConfigUtil;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.function.Supplier;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
+import java.util.regex.PatternSyntaxException;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Config;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.transport.RemoteConfig;
 
@@ -51,6 +55,7 @@
   private final int maxRetries;
   private final int slowLatencyThreshold;
   private final Supplier<Integer> pushBatchSize;
+  private final ImmutableList<Pattern> excludedRefsPattern;
 
   protected DestinationConfiguration(RemoteConfig remoteConfig, Config cfg) {
     this.remoteConfig = remoteConfig;
@@ -116,6 +121,7 @@
               }
               return 0;
             });
+    excludedRefsPattern = getExcludedRefsPattern(cfg, name);
   }
 
   @Override
@@ -215,4 +221,21 @@
   public int getPushBatchSize() {
     return pushBatchSize.get();
   }
+
+  @Override
+  public ImmutableList<Pattern> excludedRefsPattern() {
+    return excludedRefsPattern;
+  }
+
+  private ImmutableList<Pattern> getExcludedRefsPattern(Config cfg, String name) {
+    List<Pattern> patterns = new ArrayList<>();
+    for (String regex : cfg.getStringList("remote", name, "excludedRefsPattern")) {
+      try {
+        patterns.add(Pattern.compile(regex));
+      } catch (PatternSyntaxException e) {
+        repLog.atWarning().log("Invalid excludedRefsPattern '%s' is ignored", regex);
+      }
+    }
+    return ImmutableList.copyOf(patterns);
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/FanoutConfigResource.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/FanoutConfigResource.java
index c634cce..b8392c7 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/FanoutConfigResource.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/FanoutConfigResource.java
@@ -112,7 +112,8 @@
     Set<String> remoteNames = config.getSubsections("remote");
     if (remoteNames.size() > 0) {
       logger.atSevere().log(
-          "When replication directory is present replication.config file cannot contain remote configuration. Ignoring: %s",
+          "When replication directory is present replication.config file cannot contain remote"
+              + " configuration. Ignoring: %s",
           String.join(",", remoteNames));
 
       for (String name : remoteNames) {
@@ -207,7 +208,8 @@
       return hasher.hash().toString();
     } catch (IOException e) {
       logger.atSevere().withCause(e).log(
-          "Cannot list remote configuration files from %s. Returning replication.config file version",
+          "Cannot list remote configuration files from %s. Returning replication.config file"
+              + " version",
           remoteConfigsDirPath);
       return parentVersion;
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/PushOne.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/PushOne.java
index c9b9994..9c4ad4d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/PushOne.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/PushOne.java
@@ -751,7 +751,8 @@
   private boolean canPushRef(String ref, boolean noPerms) {
     return !(noPerms && RefNames.REFS_CONFIG.equals(ref))
         && !ref.startsWith(RefNames.REFS_CACHE_AUTOMERGE)
-        && !(!pool.replicateNoteDbMetaRefs() && RefNames.isNoteDbMetaRef(ref));
+        && !(!pool.replicateNoteDbMetaRefs() && RefNames.isNoteDbMetaRef(ref))
+        && pool.excludedRefsPattern().stream().noneMatch(p -> p.matcher(ref).matches());
   }
 
   private Map<String, Ref> listRemote(Transport tn)
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/RemoteConfiguration.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/RemoteConfiguration.java
index 726bcf5..307017b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/RemoteConfiguration.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/RemoteConfiguration.java
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.replication;
 
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.transport.RemoteConfig;
 
 /** Remote configuration for a replication endpoint */
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@
    * @return the delay value in seconds
    */
   int getDelay();
+
   /**
    * Time to wait before rescheduling a remote replication operation, which might have failed the
    * first time round. Setting to 0 effectively disables the delay.
@@ -32,6 +34,7 @@
    * @return the delay value in seconds
    */
   int getRescheduleDelay();
+
   /**
    * Time to wait before retrying a failed remote replication operation, Setting to 0 effectively
    * disables the delay.
@@ -39,12 +42,14 @@
    * @return the delay value in seconds
    */
   int getRetryDelay();
+
   /**
    * List of the remote endpoint addresses used for replication.
    *
    * @return list of remote URL strings
    */
   ImmutableList<String> getUrls();
+
   /**
    * List of alternative remote endpoint addresses, used for admin operations, such as repository
    * creation
@@ -52,36 +57,42 @@
    * @return list of remote URL strings
    */
   ImmutableList<String> getAdminUrls();
+
   /**
    * List of repositories that should be replicated
    *
    * @return list of project strings
    */
   ImmutableList<String> getProjects();
+
   /**
    * List of groups that should be used to access the repositories.
    *
    * @return list of group strings
    */
   ImmutableList<String> getAuthGroupNames();
+
   /**
    * Influence how the name of the remote repository should be computed.
    *
    * @return a string representing a remote style name
    */
   String getRemoteNameStyle();
+
   /**
    * If true, permissions-only projects and the refs/meta/config branch will also be replicated
    *
    * @return a string representing a remote style name
    */
   boolean replicatePermissions();
+
   /**
    * the JGIT remote configuration representing the replication for this endpoint
    *
    * @return The remote config {@link RemoteConfig}
    */
   RemoteConfig getRemoteConfig();
+
   /**
    * Number of times to retry a replication operation
    *
@@ -132,4 +143,11 @@
     }
     return ret;
   }
+
+  /**
+   * List of patterns that will be used to exclude refs from being replicated
+   *
+   * @return list of successfully compiled patterns
+   */
+  ImmutableList<Pattern> excludedRefsPattern();
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/ReplicationTasksStorage.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/ReplicationTasksStorage.java
index 40f5278..b60cc57 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/ReplicationTasksStorage.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/ReplicationTasksStorage.java
@@ -405,7 +405,8 @@
         if (isMultiPrimary() && e instanceof NoSuchFileException) {
           logger.atFine().log(
               message
-                  + " (expected after recovery from another node's startup with multi-primaries and distributor enabled)",
+                  + " (expected after recovery from another node's startup with multi-primaries and"
+                  + " distributor enabled)",
               taskKey);
         } else {
           logger.atSevere().withCause(e).log(message, taskKey);
diff --git a/src/main/resources/Documentation/config.md b/src/main/resources/Documentation/config.md
index bb4be9a..6cd0db1 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/Documentation/config.md
+++ b/src/main/resources/Documentation/config.md
@@ -604,6 +604,11 @@
 
   By default, true.
 
+remote.NAME.excludedRefsPattern
+: Refs that match the pattern provided using this config will not be replicated.
+  This option is useful when admins want to skip replicating certain refs, for
+  example refs created by plugins. Multiple excludedRefsPattern keys can be
+  supplied, to specify multiple patterns to match against.
 
 Directory `replication`
 --------------------
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/PushOneTest.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/PushOneTest.java
index aa29846..3b07f49 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/PushOneTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/PushOneTest.java
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.Callable;
 import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.errors.NotSupportedException;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.errors.RepositoryNotFoundException;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.errors.TransportException;
@@ -75,6 +76,7 @@
 import org.eclipse.jgit.util.FS;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
+import org.mockito.ArgumentCaptor;
 import org.mockito.Mockito;
 import org.mockito.invocation.InvocationOnMock;
 import org.mockito.stubbing.Answer;
@@ -294,6 +296,40 @@
   }
 
   @Test
+  public void skipPushingExcludedRefs() throws InterruptedException, IOException {
+    when(destinationMock.excludedRefsPattern())
+        .thenReturn(
+            ImmutableList.of(Pattern.compile("refs/foo/.*"), Pattern.compile("refs/bar/.*")));
+    PushOne pushOne = Mockito.spy(createPushOne(null));
+
+    Ref ref1 =
+        new ObjectIdRef.Unpeeled(
+            NEW,
+            "refs/heads/master",
+            ObjectId.fromString("0000000000000000000000000000000000000002"));
+    Ref ref2 =
+        new ObjectIdRef.Unpeeled(
+            NEW, "refs/foo/test", ObjectId.fromString("0000000000000000000000000000000000000003"));
+    Ref ref3 =
+        new ObjectIdRef.Unpeeled(
+            NEW, "refs/bar/test", ObjectId.fromString("0000000000000000000000000000000000000004"));
+
+    localRefs.add(ref1);
+    localRefs.add(ref2);
+    localRefs.add(ref3);
+
+    pushOne.addRefBatch(ImmutableSet.of(ref1.getName(), ref2.getName(), ref3.getName()));
+    pushOne.run();
+
+    isCallFinished.await(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+
+    ArgumentCaptor<Ref> refCaptor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(Ref.class);
+    verify(transportMock, atLeastOnce()).push(any(), any());
+    verify(pushOne, times(1)).push(any(), any(), refCaptor.capture());
+    assertThat(refCaptor.getValue().getName()).isEqualTo("refs/heads/master");
+  }
+
+  @Test
   public void shouldNotAttemptDuplicateRemoteRefUpdate() throws InterruptedException, IOException {
     PushOne pushOne = Mockito.spy(createPushOne(null));
 
@@ -459,6 +495,7 @@
   private void setupDestinationMock() {
     destinationMock = mock(Destination.class);
     when(destinationMock.requestRunway(any())).thenReturn(RunwayStatus.allowed());
+    when(destinationMock.excludedRefsPattern()).thenReturn(ImmutableList.of());
   }
 
   private void setupPermissionBackedMock() {
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/PushReplicationTest.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/PushReplicationTest.java
index 122465b..736ad1a 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/PushReplicationTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/PushReplicationTest.java
@@ -45,7 +45,8 @@
     assertThat(escape("name\nwith-LF")).isEqualTo("name%0Awith-LF");
     assertThat(
             escape(
-                "key=a-value=1, --option1 \"OPTION_VALUE_1\" --option-2 <option_VALUE-2> --option-without-value"))
+                "key=a-value=1, --option1 \"OPTION_VALUE_1\" --option-2 <option_VALUE-2>"
+                    + " --option-without-value"))
         .isEqualTo(
             "key=a-value=1,%20--option1%20%22OPTION_VALUE_1%22%20--option-2%20%3Coption_VALUE-2%3E%20--option-without-value");
   }
@@ -56,7 +57,8 @@
     String url = urlBase + "/${name}.git";
     URIish template = new URIish(url);
     String name =
-        "key=a-value=1, --option1 \"OPTION_VALUE_1\" --option-2 <option_VALUE-2> --option-without-value";
+        "key=a-value=1, --option1 \"OPTION_VALUE_1\" --option-2 <option_VALUE-2>"
+            + " --option-without-value";
     String expectedAsciiName =
         "key=a-value=1,%20--option1%20\"OPTION_VALUE_1\"%20--option-2%20<option_VALUE-2>%20--option-without-value";
     String expectedEscapedName =
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/ReplicationTasksStorageTest.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/ReplicationTasksStorageTest.java
index 6e02573..6d334fa 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/ReplicationTasksStorageTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/replication/ReplicationTasksStorageTest.java
@@ -170,7 +170,8 @@
     String url = urlBase + "/${name}.git";
     URIish template = new URIish(url);
     String strangeValidName =
-        "project/with/a/strange/name key=a-value=1, --option1 \"OPTION_VALUE_1\" --option-2 <option_VALUE-2> --option-without-value";
+        "project/with/a/strange/name key=a-value=1, --option1 \"OPTION_VALUE_1\" --option-2"
+            + " <option_VALUE-2> --option-without-value";
     Project.NameKey project = Project.nameKey(strangeValidName);
     URIish expanded = Destination.getURI(template, project, "slash", false);
     ReplicateRefUpdate update =