diff --git a/modules/actions/workflows.go b/modules/actions/workflows.go
index 0d2b0dd9194d9..28be0fbf1aeae 100644
--- a/modules/actions/workflows.go
+++ b/modules/actions/workflows.go
@@ -55,17 +55,16 @@ func ListWorkflows(commit *git.Commit) (git.Entries, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	entries, err := tree.ListEntriesRecursiveFast()
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
-	ret := make(git.Entries, 0, len(entries))
-	for _, entry := range entries {
+	ret := make(git.Entries, 0, 5)
+	if err := tree.IterateEntriesRecursive(func(entry *git.TreeEntry) error {
 		if strings.HasSuffix(entry.Name(), ".yml") || strings.HasSuffix(entry.Name(), ".yaml") {
 			ret = append(ret, entry)
 		}
+		return nil
+	}, nil); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
 	}
+
 	return ret, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/modules/git/parse_nogogit.go b/modules/git/parse_nogogit.go
index 676bb3c76c09f..848c2076908eb 100644
--- a/modules/git/parse_nogogit.go
+++ b/modules/git/parse_nogogit.go
@@ -22,6 +22,13 @@ func ParseTreeEntries(data []byte) ([]*TreeEntry, error) {
 // parseTreeEntries FIXME this function's design is not right, it should make the caller read all data into memory
 func parseTreeEntries(data []byte, ptree *Tree) ([]*TreeEntry, error) {
 	entries := make([]*TreeEntry, 0, bytes.Count(data, []byte{'\n'})+1)
+	return entries, iterateTreeEntries(data, ptree, func(entry *TreeEntry) error {
+		entries = append(entries, entry)
+		return nil
+	})
+}
+
+func iterateTreeEntries(data []byte, ptree *Tree, f func(entry *TreeEntry) error) error {
 	for pos := 0; pos < len(data); {
 		posEnd := bytes.IndexByte(data[pos:], '\n')
 		if posEnd == -1 {
@@ -33,7 +40,7 @@ func parseTreeEntries(data []byte, ptree *Tree) ([]*TreeEntry, error) {
 		line := data[pos:posEnd]
 		lsTreeLine, err := parseLsTreeLine(line)
 		if err != nil {
-			return nil, err
+			return err
 		}
 		entry := &TreeEntry{
 			ptree:     ptree,
@@ -44,9 +51,11 @@ func parseTreeEntries(data []byte, ptree *Tree) ([]*TreeEntry, error) {
 			sized:     lsTreeLine.Size.Has(),
 		}
 		pos = posEnd + 1
-		entries = append(entries, entry)
+		if err := f(entry); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 	}
-	return entries, nil
+	return nil
 }
 
 func catBatchParseTreeEntries(objectFormat ObjectFormat, ptree *Tree, rd *bufio.Reader, sz int64) ([]*TreeEntry, error) {
diff --git a/modules/git/repo_language_stats_nogogit.go b/modules/git/repo_language_stats_nogogit.go
index de7707bd6cd8b..098f29707cf07 100644
--- a/modules/git/repo_language_stats_nogogit.go
+++ b/modules/git/repo_language_stats_nogogit.go
@@ -57,11 +57,6 @@ func (repo *Repository) GetLanguageStats(commitID string) (map[string]int64, err
 
 	tree := commit.Tree
 
-	entries, err := tree.ListEntriesRecursiveWithSize()
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
 	checker, deferable := repo.CheckAttributeReader(commitID)
 	defer deferable()
 
@@ -77,18 +72,12 @@ func (repo *Repository) GetLanguageStats(commitID string) (map[string]int64, err
 	firstExcludedLanguage := ""
 	firstExcludedLanguageSize := int64(0)
 
-	for _, f := range entries {
-		select {
-		case <-repo.Ctx.Done():
-			return sizes, repo.Ctx.Err()
-		default:
-		}
-
+	if err := tree.IterateEntriesRecursive(func(f *TreeEntry) error {
 		contentBuf.Reset()
 		content = contentBuf.Bytes()
 
 		if f.Size() == 0 {
-			continue
+			return nil
 		}
 
 		isVendored := optional.None[bool]()
@@ -101,22 +90,22 @@ func (repo *Repository) GetLanguageStats(commitID string) (map[string]int64, err
 			if err == nil {
 				isVendored = AttributeToBool(attrs, AttributeLinguistVendored)
 				if isVendored.ValueOrDefault(false) {
-					continue
+					return nil
 				}
 
 				isGenerated = AttributeToBool(attrs, AttributeLinguistGenerated)
 				if isGenerated.ValueOrDefault(false) {
-					continue
+					return nil
 				}
 
 				isDocumentation = AttributeToBool(attrs, AttributeLinguistDocumentation)
 				if isDocumentation.ValueOrDefault(false) {
-					continue
+					return nil
 				}
 
 				isDetectable = AttributeToBool(attrs, AttributeLinguistDetectable)
 				if !isDetectable.ValueOrDefault(true) {
-					continue
+					return nil
 				}
 
 				hasLanguage := TryReadLanguageAttribute(attrs)
@@ -131,7 +120,7 @@ func (repo *Repository) GetLanguageStats(commitID string) (map[string]int64, err
 
 					// this language will always be added to the size
 					sizes[language] += f.Size()
-					continue
+					return nil
 				}
 			}
 		}
@@ -140,19 +129,19 @@ func (repo *Repository) GetLanguageStats(commitID string) (map[string]int64, err
 			enry.IsDotFile(f.Name()) ||
 			(!isDocumentation.Has() && enry.IsDocumentation(f.Name())) ||
 			enry.IsConfiguration(f.Name()) {
-			continue
+			return nil
 		}
 
 		// If content can not be read or file is too big just do detection by filename
 
 		if f.Size() <= bigFileSize {
 			if err := writeID(f.ID.String()); err != nil {
-				return nil, err
+				return err
 			}
 			_, _, size, err := ReadBatchLine(batchReader)
 			if err != nil {
 				log.Debug("Error reading blob: %s Err: %v", f.ID.String(), err)
-				return nil, err
+				return err
 			}
 
 			sizeToRead := size
@@ -164,22 +153,22 @@ func (repo *Repository) GetLanguageStats(commitID string) (map[string]int64, err
 
 			_, err = contentBuf.ReadFrom(io.LimitReader(batchReader, sizeToRead))
 			if err != nil {
-				return nil, err
+				return err
 			}
 			content = contentBuf.Bytes()
 			if err := DiscardFull(batchReader, discard); err != nil {
-				return nil, err
+				return err
 			}
 		}
 		if !isGenerated.Has() && enry.IsGenerated(f.Name(), content) {
-			continue
+			return nil
 		}
 
 		// FIXME: Why can't we split this and the IsGenerated tests to avoid reading the blob unless absolutely necessary?
 		// - eg. do the all the detection tests using filename first before reading content.
 		language := analyze.GetCodeLanguage(f.Name(), content)
 		if language == "" {
-			continue
+			return nil
 		}
 
 		// group languages, such as Pug -> HTML; SCSS -> CSS
@@ -200,6 +189,9 @@ func (repo *Repository) GetLanguageStats(commitID string) (map[string]int64, err
 			firstExcludedLanguage = language
 			firstExcludedLanguageSize += f.Size()
 		}
+		return nil
+	}, TrustedCmdArgs{"--long"}); err != nil { // add --long to get size
+		return sizes, err
 	}
 
 	// If there are no included languages add the first excluded language
diff --git a/modules/git/tree_gogit.go b/modules/git/tree_gogit.go
index 421b0ecb0f0f9..59f6129b2abb9 100644
--- a/modules/git/tree_gogit.go
+++ b/modules/git/tree_gogit.go
@@ -58,6 +58,24 @@ func (t *Tree) ListEntries() (Entries, error) {
 
 // ListEntriesRecursiveWithSize returns all entries of current tree recursively including all subtrees
 func (t *Tree) ListEntriesRecursiveWithSize() (Entries, error) {
+	var entries []*TreeEntry
+	if err := t.IterateEntriesRecursive(func(entry *TreeEntry) error {
+		entries = append(entries, convertedEntry)
+		return nil
+	}, nil); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return entries, nil
+}
+
+// ListEntriesRecursiveFast is the alias of ListEntriesRecursiveWithSize for the gogit version
+func (t *Tree) ListEntriesRecursiveFast() (Entries, error) {
+	return t.ListEntriesRecursiveWithSize()
+}
+
+// IterateEntriesRecursive returns iterate entries of current tree recursively including all subtrees
+// extraArgs could be "-l" to get the size, which is slower
+func (t *Tree) IterateEntriesRecursive(f func(entry *TreeEntry) error, extraArgs TrustedCmdArgs) error {
 	if t.gogitTree == nil {
 		err := t.loadTreeObject()
 		if err != nil {
@@ -65,7 +83,6 @@ func (t *Tree) ListEntriesRecursiveWithSize() (Entries, error) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	var entries []*TreeEntry
 	seen := map[plumbing.Hash]bool{}
 	walker := object.NewTreeWalker(t.gogitTree, true, seen)
 	for {
@@ -86,13 +103,10 @@ func (t *Tree) ListEntriesRecursiveWithSize() (Entries, error) {
 			ptree:          t,
 			fullName:       fullName,
 		}
-		entries = append(entries, convertedEntry)
+		if err := f(convertedEntry); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
 	}
 
-	return entries, nil
-}
-
-// ListEntriesRecursiveFast is the alias of ListEntriesRecursiveWithSize for the gogit version
-func (t *Tree) ListEntriesRecursiveFast() (Entries, error) {
-	return t.ListEntriesRecursiveWithSize()
+	return nil
 }
diff --git a/modules/git/tree_nogogit.go b/modules/git/tree_nogogit.go
index 993b98edc2994..89454df047407 100644
--- a/modules/git/tree_nogogit.go
+++ b/modules/git/tree_nogogit.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 package git
 
 import (
+	"bufio"
 	"io"
 	"strings"
 )
@@ -96,21 +97,17 @@ func (t *Tree) listEntriesRecursive(extraArgs TrustedCmdArgs) (Entries, error) {
 		return t.entriesRecursive, nil
 	}
 
-	stdout, _, runErr := NewCommand(t.repo.Ctx, "ls-tree", "-t", "-r").
-		AddArguments(extraArgs...).
-		AddDynamicArguments(t.ID.String()).
-		RunStdBytes(&RunOpts{Dir: t.repo.Path})
-	if runErr != nil {
-		return nil, runErr
-	}
-
-	var err error
-	t.entriesRecursive, err = parseTreeEntries(stdout, t)
-	if err == nil {
-		t.entriesRecursiveParsed = true
+	t.entriesRecursive = make([]*TreeEntry, 0)
+	if err := t.IterateEntriesRecursive(func(entry *TreeEntry) error {
+		t.entriesRecursive = append(t.entriesRecursive, entry)
+		return nil
+	}, extraArgs); err != nil {
+		t.entriesRecursive = nil
+		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	return t.entriesRecursive, err
+	t.entriesRecursiveParsed = true
+	return t.entriesRecursive, nil
 }
 
 // ListEntriesRecursiveFast returns all entries of current tree recursively including all subtrees, no size
@@ -122,3 +119,50 @@ func (t *Tree) ListEntriesRecursiveFast() (Entries, error) {
 func (t *Tree) ListEntriesRecursiveWithSize() (Entries, error) {
 	return t.listEntriesRecursive(TrustedCmdArgs{"--long"})
 }
+
+// IterateEntriesRecursive returns iterate entries of current tree recursively including all subtrees
+// extraArgs could be "-l" to get the size, which is slower
+func (t *Tree) IterateEntriesRecursive(f func(entry *TreeEntry) error, extraArgs TrustedCmdArgs) error {
+	reader, writer := io.Pipe()
+	done := make(chan error)
+
+	go func(t *Tree, done chan error, writer *io.PipeWriter) {
+		runErr := NewCommand(t.repo.Ctx, "ls-tree", "-t", "-r").
+			AddArguments(extraArgs...).
+			AddDynamicArguments(t.ID.String()).
+			Run(&RunOpts{
+				Dir:    t.repo.Path,
+				Stdout: writer,
+			})
+
+		_ = writer.Close()
+
+		done <- runErr
+	}(t, done, writer)
+
+	scanner := bufio.NewScanner(reader)
+	for scanner.Scan() {
+		if err := scanner.Err(); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		data := scanner.Bytes()
+		if err := iterateTreeEntries(data, t, func(entry *TreeEntry) error {
+			if err := f(entry); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+
+			select {
+			case <-t.repo.Ctx.Done():
+				return t.repo.Ctx.Err()
+			case runErr := <-done:
+				return runErr
+			default:
+				return nil
+			}
+		}); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}