diff --git a/software/gitlab/software.cfg b/software/gitlab/software.cfg
index 97d458fb58ce32f7dd1900cb1025d0a8124415b1..0101bbb5bf2de4bc8fe7bbe5767f5f8c4558afc5 100644
--- a/software/gitlab/software.cfg
+++ b/software/gitlab/software.cfg
@@ -109,9 +109,11 @@ location = ${buildout:parts-directory}/gitlab-shell
 
 [gitlab-workhorse-repository]
 <= git-repository
-repository = https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-workhorse.git
-# 0.4.X + NXD patches
-revision = 0.4.1-10-g0d0bd209eea7441a3b4202c2e00a989cf340ee86
+#repository = https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-workhorse.git
+repository = https://lab.nexedi.com/kirr/gitlab-workhorse.git
+# 0.4.X + NXD patches for blob download speedup
+# (https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-workhorse/merge_requests/17)
+revision = 0.4.1-23-g2beb8c9539433f072e3db540f91f75894ca6b1b0
 location = ${buildout:parts-directory}/gitlab-workhorse
 
 
diff --git a/software/gitlab/template/nginx-gitlab-http.conf.in b/software/gitlab/template/nginx-gitlab-http.conf.in
index 131c95a6f2cc881bccc59015d118c8b6ee802e41..f8750a91da2b8451aca6c09a0ae567223e125555 100644
--- a/software/gitlab/template/nginx-gitlab-http.conf.in
+++ b/software/gitlab/template/nginx-gitlab-http.conf.in
@@ -206,6 +206,13 @@ server {
     return 418;
   }
 
+  # access to raw blobs -> @gitlab-workhorse
+  location ~ ^/[\w\.-]+/[\w\.-]+/raw/ {
+    client_max_body_size 0;
+    error_page 418 = @gitlab-workhorse;
+    return 418;
+  }
+
   location @gitlab-workhorse {
     client_max_body_size 0;
     ## If you use HTTPS make sure you disable gzip compression