diff --git a/pulp_ostree/app/tasks/importing.py b/pulp_ostree/app/tasks/importing.py
index 3663fc27..99a3419f 100644
--- a/pulp_ostree/app/tasks/importing.py
+++ b/pulp_ostree/app/tasks/importing.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import os
 import tarfile
 
+from collections import defaultdict
 from gettext import gettext
 
 from asgiref.sync import sync_to_async
@@ -10,11 +11,11 @@
     ArtifactSaver,
     ContentSaver,
     DeclarativeVersion,
-    QueryExistingArtifacts,
     QueryExistingContents,
     ResolveContentFutures,
     Stage,
 )
+from pulpcore.plugin.sync import sync_to_async_iterable
 
 from pulp_ostree.app.models import (
     OstreeCommit,
@@ -371,6 +372,76 @@ async def run(self):
             await self.submit_metafile_object("summary", OstreeSummary())
 
 
+class QueryExistingArtifactsOstree(Stage):
+    """
+    A Stages API stage that replaces :attr:`DeclarativeContent.content` objects with already-saved
+    :class:`~pulpcore.plugin.models.Artifact` objects.
+
+    This stage expects :class:`~pulpcore.plugin.stages.DeclarativeContent` units from `self._in_q`
+    and inspects their associated :class:`~pulpcore.plugin.stages.DeclarativeArtifact` objects. Each
+    :class:`~pulpcore.plugin.stages.DeclarativeArtifact` object stores one
+    :class:`~pulpcore.plugin.models.Artifact`.
+
+    This stage inspects any unsaved :class:`~pulpcore.plugin.models.Artifact` objects and searches
+    using their metadata for existing saved :class:`~pulpcore.plugin.models.Artifact` objects inside
+    Pulp with the same digest value(s). Any existing :class:`~pulpcore.plugin.models.Artifact`
+    objects found will replace their unsaved counterpart in the
+    :class:`~pulpcore.plugin.stages.DeclarativeArtifact` object.
+
+    Each :class:`~pulpcore.plugin.stages.DeclarativeContent` is sent to `self._out_q` after all of
+    its :class:`~pulpcore.plugin.stages.DeclarativeArtifact` objects have been handled.
+
+    This stage drains all available items from `self._in_q` and batches everything into one large
+    call to the db for efficiency.
+    """
+
+    async def run(self):
+        """
+        The coroutine for this stage.
+
+        Returns:
+            The coroutine for this stage.
+        """
+        async for batch in self.batches():
+            artifacts_digests = []
+
+            # For each unsaved artifact, check its digests in the order of COMMON_DIGEST_FIELDS
+            # and the first digest which is found is added to the list of digests of that type.
+            # We assume that in general only one digest is provided and that it will be
+            # sufficient to identify the Artifact.
+            for d_content in batch:
+                d_artifact = d_content.d_artifacts[0]
+                if d_artifact.artifact._state.adding:
+                    digest_value = d_artifact.artifact.sha256
+                    artifacts_digests.append(digest_value)
+
+            # For each type of digest, fetch all the existing Artifacts where digest "in"
+            # the list we built earlier. Walk over all the artifacts again compare the
+            # digest of the new artifact to those of the existing ones - if one matches,
+            # swap it out with the existing one.
+            query_params = {
+                "sha256__in": artifacts_digests,
+                "pulp_domain": self.domain,
+            }
+
+            existing_artifacts_qs = Artifact.objects.filter(**query_params)
+            await sync_to_async(existing_artifacts_qs.touch)()
+
+            d = {}
+            async for result in sync_to_async_iterable(existing_artifacts_qs):
+                d[result.sha256] = result
+
+            for d_content in batch:
+                d_artifact = d_content.d_artifacts[0]
+                artifact_digest = d_artifact.artifact.sha256
+                m = d.get(artifact_digest)
+                if m:
+                    d_artifact.artifact = m
+
+            for d_content in batch:
+                await self.put(d_content)
+
+
 class OstreeImportDeclarativeVersion(DeclarativeVersion):
     """A customized DeclarativeVersion class that creates a pipeline for the OSTree import."""
 
@@ -378,7 +449,7 @@ def pipeline_stages(self, new_version):
         """Build a list of stages."""
         pipeline = [
             self.first_stage,
-            QueryExistingArtifacts(),
+            QueryExistingArtifactsOstree(),
             ArtifactSaver(),
             QueryExistingContents(),
             ContentSaver(),