diff --git a/doc/configuration.txt b/doc/configuration.txt
index c51101389..8eb8db06f 100644
--- a/doc/configuration.txt
+++ b/doc/configuration.txt
@@ -2014,6 +2014,17 @@ cpu-policy <policy>
                         systems, these can also be used to run auxiliary tools
                         such as load generators and monitoring tools.
 
+   - resource           this is like group-by-cluster above, except that only
+                        the smallest and most efficient CPU cluster will be
+                        used, while all other ones will be ignored. This can be
+                        used to limit the resource usage to the strict minimum
+                        that still delivers decent performance, for example to
+                        try to further reduce power consumption or minimize the
+                        number of cores needed on some rented systems for a
+                        sidecar setup, in order to scale the system down more
+                        easily. Note that if a single cluster is present, it
+                        will still be fully used.
+
   See also: "cpu-map", "cpu-set", "nbthread"
 
 cpu-set <directive>...
diff --git a/src/cpu_topo.c b/src/cpu_topo.c
index 7611e0ccc..7e07b4781 100644
--- a/src/cpu_topo.c
+++ b/src/cpu_topo.c
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ static int cpu_policy_first_usable_node(int policy, int tmin, int tmax, int gmin
 static int cpu_policy_group_by_cluster(int policy, int tmin, int tmax, int gmin, int gmax, char **err);
 static int cpu_policy_performance(int policy, int tmin, int tmax, int gmin, int gmax, char **err);
 static int cpu_policy_efficiency(int policy, int tmin, int tmax, int gmin, int gmax, char **err);
+static int cpu_policy_resource(int policy, int tmin, int tmax, int gmin, int gmax, char **err);
 
 static struct ha_cpu_policy ha_cpu_policy[] = {
 	{ .name = "none",               .desc = "use all available CPUs",                           .fct = NULL   },
@@ -62,6 +63,7 @@ static struct ha_cpu_policy ha_cpu_policy[] = {
 	{ .name = "group-by-cluster",   .desc = "make one thread group per core cluster",           .fct = cpu_policy_group_by_cluster   },
 	{ .name = "performance",        .desc = "make one thread group per perf. core cluster",     .fct = cpu_policy_performance        },
 	{ .name = "efficiency",         .desc = "make one thread group per eff. core cluster",      .fct = cpu_policy_efficiency         },
+	{ .name = "resource",           .desc = "make one thread group from the smallest cluster",  .fct = cpu_policy_resource           },
 	{ 0 } /* end */
 };
 
@@ -1176,6 +1178,43 @@ static int cpu_policy_efficiency(int policy, int tmin, int tmax, int gmin, int g
 	return cpu_policy_group_by_cluster(policy, tmin, tmax, gmin, gmax, err);
 }
 
+
+/* the "resource" cpu-policy:
+ *  - does nothing if nbthread or thread-groups are set
+ *  - only keeps the smallest cluster.
+ */
+static int cpu_policy_resource(int policy, int tmin, int tmax, int gmin, int gmax, char **err)
+{
+	int cpu, cluster;
+	int capa;
+
+	if (global.nbthread || global.nbtgroups)
+		return 0;
+
+	/* sort clusters by reverse capacity */
+	cpu_cluster_reorder_by_capa(ha_cpu_clusters, cpu_topo_maxcpus);
+
+	capa = 0;
+	for (cluster = cpu_topo_maxcpus - 1; cluster >= 0; cluster--) {
+		if (capa) {
+			/* we already have a cluster, let's disable this
+			 * one.
+			 */
+			for (cpu = 0; cpu <= cpu_topo_lastcpu; cpu++) {
+				if (ha_cpu_topo[cpu].cl_gid == ha_cpu_clusters[cluster].idx)
+					ha_cpu_topo[cpu].st |= HA_CPU_F_IGNORED;
+			}
+		}
+		else
+			capa = ha_cpu_clusters[cluster].capa;
+	}
+
+	cpu_cluster_reorder_by_index(ha_cpu_clusters, cpu_topo_maxcpus);
+
+	/* and finish using the group-by-cluster strategy */
+	return cpu_policy_group_by_cluster(policy, tmin, tmax, gmin, gmax, err);
+}
+
 /* apply the chosen CPU policy if no cpu-map was forced. Returns < 0 on failure
  * with a message in *err that must be freed by the caller if non-null.
  */