diff --git a/swh/deposit/api/common.py b/swh/deposit/api/common.py
--- a/swh/deposit/api/common.py
+++ b/swh/deposit/api/common.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright (C) 2017-2021  The Software Heritage developers
+# Copyright (C) 2017-2022  The Software Heritage developers
 # See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
@@ -885,6 +885,7 @@
             if isinstance(swhid_ref, QualifiedSWHID):
                 deposit.swhid = str(extended_swhid_from_qualified(swhid_ref))
                 deposit.swhid_context = str(swhid_ref)
+            deposit.metadata_only = True
             deposit.complete_date = depo_request.date
             deposit.reception_date = depo_request.date
             deposit.save()
diff --git a/swh/deposit/migrations/0022_deposit_metadata_only.py b/swh/deposit/migrations/0022_deposit_metadata_only.py
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swh/deposit/migrations/0022_deposit_metadata_only.py
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# Generated by Django 2.2.24 on 2022-02-23 10:01
+
+from django.db import migrations, models
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+
+    dependencies = [
+        ("deposit", "0021_deposit_origin_url_20201124_1438"),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        migrations.AddField(
+            model_name="deposit",
+            name="metadata_only",
+            field=models.BooleanField(default=False),
+        ),
+    ]
diff --git a/swh/deposit/models.py b/swh/deposit/models.py
--- a/swh/deposit/models.py
+++ b/swh/deposit/models.py
@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@
     load_task_id = models.TextField(
         blank=True, null=True, verbose_name="Scheduler's associated loading task id"
     )
+    metadata_only = models.BooleanField(default=False)
     raw_metadata: Optional[str] = None
 
     class Meta: