diff --git a/cmd/Kconfig b/cmd/Kconfig
index cd391d422ae..0cbb75edfbe 100644
--- a/cmd/Kconfig
+++ b/cmd/Kconfig
@@ -3079,4 +3079,21 @@ config CMD_MESON
 	help
 	  Enable useful commands for the Meson Soc family developed by Amlogic Inc.
 
+config CMD_SPAWN
+	bool "spawn and wait commands"
+	depends on UTHREAD
+	help
+	  spawn runs a command in the background and sets the job_id environment
+	  variable. wait is used to suspend the shell execution until one or more
+	  jobs are complete.
+
+config CMD_SPAWN_NUM_JOBS
+	int "Maximum number of simultaneous jobs for spawn"
+	default 16
+	help
+	  Job identifiers are in the range 1..CMD_SPAWN_NUM_JOBS. In other words
+	  there can be no more that CMD_SPAWN_NUM_JOBS running simultaneously.
+	  When a jobs exits, its identifier is available to be re-used by the next
+	  spawn command.
+
 endif
diff --git a/cmd/Makefile b/cmd/Makefile
index c1275d466c8..b61f6586157 100644
--- a/cmd/Makefile
+++ b/cmd/Makefile
@@ -239,6 +239,8 @@ obj-$(CONFIG_CMD_SCP03) += scp03.o
 
 obj-$(CONFIG_HUSH_SELECTABLE) += cli.o
 
+obj-$(CONFIG_CMD_SPAWN) += spawn.o
+
 obj-$(CONFIG_ARM) += arm/
 obj-$(CONFIG_RISCV) += riscv/
 obj-$(CONFIG_SANDBOX) += sandbox/
diff --git a/cmd/spawn.c b/cmd/spawn.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5879fff5bbd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/spawn.c
@@ -0,0 +1,188 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
+/*
+ * Copyright 2025, Linaro Ltd.
+ */
+
+#include <command.h>
+#include <console.h>
+#include <malloc.h>
+#include <vsprintf.h>
+#include <uthread.h>
+
+/* Spawn arguments and job index  */
+struct spa {
+	int argc;
+	char **argv;
+	unsigned int job_idx;
+};
+
+/*
+ * uthread group identifiers for each running job
+ * 0: job slot available, != 0: uthread group id
+ * Note that job[0] is job_id 1, job[1] is job_id 2 etc.
+ */
+static unsigned int job[CONFIG_CMD_SPAWN_NUM_JOBS];
+/*
+ * Return values of the commands run as jobs */
+static enum command_ret_t job_ret[CONFIG_CMD_SPAWN_NUM_JOBS];
+
+static void spa_free(struct spa *spa)
+{
+	int i;
+
+	if (!spa)
+		return;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < spa->argc; i++)
+		free(spa->argv[i]);
+	free(spa->argv);
+	free(spa);
+}
+
+static struct spa *spa_create(int argc, char *const argv[])
+{
+	struct spa *spa;
+	int i;
+
+	spa = calloc(1, sizeof(*spa));
+	if (!spa)
+		return NULL;
+	spa->argc = argc;
+	spa->argv = malloc(argc * sizeof(char *));
+	if (!spa->argv)
+		goto err;
+	for (i = 0; i < argc; i++) {
+		spa->argv[i] = strdup(argv[i]);
+		if (!spa->argv[i])
+			goto err;
+	}
+	return spa;
+err:
+	spa_free(spa);
+	return NULL;
+}
+
+static void spawn_thread(void *arg)
+{
+	struct spa *spa = (struct spa *)arg;
+	ulong cycles = 0;
+	int repeatable = 0;
+
+	job_ret[spa->job_idx] = cmd_process(0, spa->argc, spa->argv,
+					    &repeatable, &cycles);
+	spa_free(spa);
+}
+
+static unsigned int next_job_id(void)
+{
+	int i;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < CONFIG_CMD_SPAWN_NUM_JOBS; i++)
+		if (!job[i])
+			return i + 1;
+
+	/* No job available */
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static void refresh_jobs(void)
+{
+	int i;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < CONFIG_CMD_SPAWN_NUM_JOBS; i++)
+		if (job[i] && uthread_grp_done(job[i]))
+			job[i] = 0;
+
+}
+
+static int do_spawn(struct cmd_tbl *cmdtp, int flag, int argc,
+		    char *const argv[])
+{
+	unsigned int id;
+	unsigned int idx;
+	struct spa *spa;
+	int ret;
+
+	if (argc == 1)
+		return CMD_RET_USAGE;
+
+	spa = spa_create(argc - 1, argv + 1);
+	if (!spa)
+		return CMD_RET_FAILURE;
+
+	refresh_jobs();
+
+	id = next_job_id();
+	if (!id)
+		return CMD_RET_FAILURE;
+	idx = id - 1;
+
+	job[idx] = uthread_grp_new_id();
+
+	ret = uthread_create(NULL, spawn_thread, spa, 0, job[idx]);
+	if (ret) {
+		job[idx] = 0;
+		return CMD_RET_FAILURE;
+	}
+
+	ret = env_set_ulong("job_id", id);
+	if (ret)
+		return CMD_RET_FAILURE;
+
+	return CMD_RET_SUCCESS;
+}
+
+U_BOOT_CMD(spawn, CONFIG_SYS_MAXARGS, 0, do_spawn,
+	   "run commands and summarize execution time",
+	   "command [args...]\n");
+
+static enum command_ret_t wait_job(unsigned int idx)
+{
+	int prev = disable_ctrlc(false);
+
+	while (!uthread_grp_done(job[idx])) {
+		if (ctrlc()) {
+			puts("<INTERRUPT>\n");
+			disable_ctrlc(prev);
+			return CMD_RET_FAILURE;
+		}
+		uthread_schedule();
+	}
+
+	job[idx] = 0;
+	disable_ctrlc(prev);
+
+	return job_ret[idx];
+}
+
+static int do_wait(struct cmd_tbl *cmdtp, int flag, int argc,
+		   char *const argv[])
+{
+	enum command_ret_t ret = CMD_RET_SUCCESS;
+	unsigned long id;
+	unsigned int idx;
+	int i;
+
+	if (argc == 1) {
+		for (i = 0; i < CONFIG_CMD_SPAWN_NUM_JOBS; i++)
+			if (job[idx])
+				ret = wait_job(i);
+	} else {
+		for (i = 1; i < argc; i++) {
+			id = dectoul(argv[i], NULL);
+			if (id < 0 || id > CONFIG_CMD_SPAWN_NUM_JOBS)
+				return CMD_RET_USAGE;
+			idx = (int)id - 1;
+			ret = wait_job(idx);
+		}
+	}
+
+	return ret;
+}
+
+U_BOOT_CMD(wait, CONFIG_SYS_MAXARGS, 0, do_wait,
+	   "wait for one or more jobs to complete",
+	   "[job_id ...]\n"
+	   "    - Wait until all specified jobs have exited and return the\n"
+	   "      exit status of the last job waited for. When no job_id is\n"
+	   "      given, wait for all the background jobs.\n");
