diff --git a/api/queries_repo.go b/api/queries_repo.go
index 5a5061eda..f52d9ddd8 100644
--- a/api/queries_repo.go
+++ b/api/queries_repo.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package api
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"context"
 	"encoding/base64"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
@@ -12,6 +13,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/cli/cli/internal/ghrepo"
 	"github.com/cli/cli/utils"
+	"github.com/shurcooL/githubv4"
 )
 
 // Repository contains information about a GitHub repo
@@ -93,6 +95,37 @@ func GitHubRepo(client *Client, repo ghrepo.Interface) (*Repository, error) {
 	return &result.Repository, nil
 }
 
+// RepoParent finds out the parent repository of a fork
+func RepoParent(client *Client, repo ghrepo.Interface) (ghrepo.Interface, error) {
+	var query struct {
+		Repository struct {
+			Parent *struct {
+				Name  string
+				Owner struct {
+					Login string
+				}
+			}
+		} `graphql:"repository(owner: $owner, name: $name)"`
+	}
+
+	variables := map[string]interface{}{
+		"owner": githubv4.String(repo.RepoOwner()),
+		"name":  githubv4.String(repo.RepoName()),
+	}
+
+	v4 := githubv4.NewClient(client.http)
+	err := v4.Query(context.Background(), &query, variables)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	if query.Repository.Parent == nil {
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+
+	parent := ghrepo.New(query.Repository.Parent.Owner.Login, query.Repository.Parent.Name)
+	return parent, nil
+}
+
 // RepoNetworkResult describes the relationship between related repositories
 type RepoNetworkResult struct {
 	ViewerLogin  string
diff --git a/command/repo.go b/command/repo.go
index 959cfbaec..4b94812d5 100644
--- a/command/repo.go
+++ b/command/repo.go
@@ -93,6 +93,28 @@ func repoClone(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 		cloneURL = fmt.Sprintf("https://github.com/%s.git", cloneURL)
 	}
 
+	var repo ghrepo.Interface
+	var parentRepo ghrepo.Interface
+
+	// TODO: consider caching and reusing `git.ParseSSHConfig().Translator()`
+	// here to handle hostname aliases in SSH remotes
+	if u, err := git.ParseURL(cloneURL); err == nil {
+		repo, _ = ghrepo.FromURL(u)
+	}
+
+	if repo != nil {
+		ctx := contextForCommand(cmd)
+		apiClient, err := apiClientForContext(ctx)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		parentRepo, err = api.RepoParent(apiClient, repo)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+
 	cloneArgs := []string{"clone"}
 	cloneArgs = append(cloneArgs, args[1:]...)
 	cloneArgs = append(cloneArgs, cloneURL)
@@ -101,7 +123,26 @@ func repoClone(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	cloneCmd.Stdin = os.Stdin
 	cloneCmd.Stdout = os.Stdout
 	cloneCmd.Stderr = os.Stderr
-	return run.PrepareCmd(cloneCmd).Run()
+	err := run.PrepareCmd(cloneCmd).Run()
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if parentRepo != nil {
+		// TODO: support SSH remote URLs
+		upstreamURL := fmt.Sprintf("https://github.com/%s.git", ghrepo.FullName(parentRepo))
+		cloneDir := path.Base(strings.TrimSuffix(cloneURL, ".git"))
+
+		cloneCmd := git.GitCommand("-C", cloneDir, "remote", "add", "upstream", upstreamURL)
+		cloneCmd.Stdout = os.Stdout
+		cloneCmd.Stderr = os.Stderr
+		err := run.PrepareCmd(cloneCmd).Run()
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+
+	return nil
 }
 
 func repoCreate(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
diff --git a/command/repo_test.go b/command/repo_test.go
index 1b9aa2642..10820cd45 100644
--- a/command/repo_test.go
+++ b/command/repo_test.go
@@ -363,12 +363,17 @@ func TestRepoClone(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	for _, tt := range tests {
 		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
-			var seenCmd *exec.Cmd
-			restoreCmd := run.SetPrepareCmd(func(cmd *exec.Cmd) run.Runnable {
-				seenCmd = cmd
-				return &test.OutputStub{}
-			})
-			defer restoreCmd()
+			http := initFakeHTTP()
+			http.StubResponse(200, bytes.NewBufferString(`
+			{ "data": { "repository": {
+				"parent": null
+			} } }
+			`))
+
+			cs, restore := test.InitCmdStubber()
+			defer restore()
+
+			cs.Stub("") // git clone
 
 			output, err := RunCommand(repoCloneCmd, tt.args)
 			if err != nil {
@@ -377,15 +382,38 @@ func TestRepoClone(t *testing.T) {
 
 			eq(t, output.String(), "")
 			eq(t, output.Stderr(), "")
-
-			if seenCmd == nil {
-				t.Fatal("expected a command to run")
-			}
-			eq(t, strings.Join(seenCmd.Args, " "), tt.want)
+			eq(t, cs.Count, 1)
+			eq(t, strings.Join(cs.Calls[0].Args, " "), tt.want)
 		})
 	}
 }
 
+func TestRepoClone_hasParent(t *testing.T) {
+	http := initFakeHTTP()
+	http.StubResponse(200, bytes.NewBufferString(`
+	{ "data": { "repository": {
+		"parent": {
+			"owner": {"login": "hubot"},
+			"name": "ORIG"
+		}
+	} } }
+	`))
+
+	cs, restore := test.InitCmdStubber()
+	defer restore()
+
+	cs.Stub("") // git clone
+	cs.Stub("") // git remote add
+
+	_, err := RunCommand(repoCloneCmd, "repo clone OWNER/REPO")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("error running command `repo clone`: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	eq(t, cs.Count, 2)
+	eq(t, strings.Join(cs.Calls[1].Args, " "), "git -C REPO remote add upstream https://github.com/hubot/ORIG.git")
+}
+
 func TestRepoCreate(t *testing.T) {
 	ctx := context.NewBlank()
 	ctx.SetBranch("master")
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index ee45df4ed..aab4c58d4 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ require (
 	github.com/mattn/go-runewidth v0.0.8 // indirect
 	github.com/mgutz/ansi v0.0.0-20170206155736-9520e82c474b
 	github.com/mitchellh/go-homedir v1.1.0
+	github.com/shurcooL/githubv4 v0.0.0-20191127044304-8f68eb5628d0
+	github.com/shurcooL/graphql v0.0.0-20181231061246-d48a9a75455f // indirect
 	github.com/spf13/cobra v0.0.6
 	github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.5
 	github.com/stretchr/testify v1.4.0 // indirect
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index b94236621..a41c1d54b 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -145,6 +145,10 @@ github.com/russross/blackfriday/v2 v2.0.1 h1:lPqVAte+HuHNfhJ/0LC98ESWRz8afy9tM/0
 github.com/russross/blackfriday/v2 v2.0.1/go.mod h1:+Rmxgy9KzJVeS9/2gXHxylqXiyQDYRxCVz55jmeOWTM=
 github.com/sergi/go-diff v1.0.0 h1:Kpca3qRNrduNnOQeazBd0ysaKrUJiIuISHxogkT9RPQ=
 github.com/sergi/go-diff v1.0.0/go.mod h1:0CfEIISq7TuYL3j771MWULgwwjU+GofnZX9QAmXWZgo=
+github.com/shurcooL/githubv4 v0.0.0-20191127044304-8f68eb5628d0 h1:T9uus1QvcPgeLShS30YOnnzk3r9Vvygp45muhlrufgY=
+github.com/shurcooL/githubv4 v0.0.0-20191127044304-8f68eb5628d0/go.mod h1:hAF0iLZy4td2EX+/8Tw+4nodhlMrwN3HupfaXj3zkGo=
+github.com/shurcooL/graphql v0.0.0-20181231061246-d48a9a75455f h1:tygelZueB1EtXkPI6mQ4o9DQ0+FKW41hTbunoXZCTqk=
+github.com/shurcooL/graphql v0.0.0-20181231061246-d48a9a75455f/go.mod h1:AuYgA5Kyo4c7HfUmvRGs/6rGlMMV/6B1bVnB9JxJEEg=
 github.com/shurcooL/sanitized_anchor_name v1.0.0 h1:PdmoCO6wvbs+7yrJyMORt4/BmY5IYyJwS/kOiWx8mHo=
 github.com/shurcooL/sanitized_anchor_name v1.0.0/go.mod h1:1NzhyTcUVG4SuEtjjoZeVRXNmyL/1OwPU0+IJeTBvfc=
 github.com/sirupsen/logrus v1.2.0/go.mod h1:LxeOpSwHxABJmUn/MG1IvRgCAasNZTLOkJPxbbu5VWo=