diff --git a/src/overlay/status.test.ts b/src/overlay/status.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..325988ebc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/overlay/status.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+import test from "ava";
+
+import { mockCodeQLVersion, setupTests } from "../testing-utils";
+import { DiskUsage } from "../util";
+
+import { getCacheKey } from "./status";
+
+setupTests(test);
+
+function makeDiskUsage(totalGiB: number): DiskUsage {
+  return {
+    numTotalBytes: totalGiB * 1024 * 1024 * 1024,
+    numAvailableBytes: 0,
+  };
+}
+
+test("getCacheKey incorporates language, CodeQL version, and disk space", async (t) => {
+  const codeql = mockCodeQLVersion("2.20.0");
+  t.is(
+    await getCacheKey(codeql, "javascript", makeDiskUsage(50)),
+    "codeql-overlay-status-javascript-2.20.0-runner-50GB",
+  );
+  t.is(
+    await getCacheKey(codeql, "python", makeDiskUsage(50)),
+    "codeql-overlay-status-python-2.20.0-runner-50GB",
+  );
+  t.is(
+    await getCacheKey(
+      mockCodeQLVersion("2.21.0"),
+      "javascript",
+      makeDiskUsage(50),
+    ),
+    "codeql-overlay-status-javascript-2.21.0-runner-50GB",
+  );
+  t.is(
+    await getCacheKey(codeql, "javascript", makeDiskUsage(100)),
+    "codeql-overlay-status-javascript-2.20.0-runner-100GB",
+  );
+});
+
+test("getCacheKey rounds disk space down to nearest 10 GiB", async (t) => {
+  const codeql = mockCodeQLVersion("2.20.0");
+  t.is(
+    await getCacheKey(codeql, "javascript", makeDiskUsage(14)),
+    "codeql-overlay-status-javascript-2.20.0-runner-10GB",
+  );
+  t.is(
+    await getCacheKey(codeql, "javascript", makeDiskUsage(19)),
+    "codeql-overlay-status-javascript-2.20.0-runner-10GB",
+  );
+});
diff --git a/src/overlay/status.ts b/src/overlay/status.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4695dce70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/overlay/status.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+/*
+ * We perform enablement checks for overlay analysis to avoid using it on runners that are too small
+ * to support it. However these checks cannot avoid every potential issue without being overly
+ * conservative. Therefore, if our enablement checks enable overlay analysis for a runner that is
+ * too small, we want to remember that, so that we will not try to use overlay analysis until
+ * something changes (e.g. a larger runner is provisioned, or a new CodeQL version is released).
+ *
+ * We use the Actions cache as a lightweight way of providing this functionality.
+ */
+
+import { type CodeQL } from "../codeql";
+import { DiskUsage } from "../util";
+
+export async function getCacheKey(
+  codeql: CodeQL,
+  language: string,
+  diskUsage: DiskUsage,
+): Promise<string> {
+  // Total disk space, rounded to the nearest 10 GB. This is included in the cache key so that if a
+  // customer upgrades their runner, we will try again to use overlay analysis, even if the CodeQL
+  // version has not changed. We round to the nearest 10 GB to work around small differences in disk
+  // space.
+  //
+  // Limitation: this can still flip from "too small" to "large enough" and back again if the disk
+  // space fluctuates above and below a multiple of 10 GB.
+  const diskSpaceToNearest10Gb = `${10 * Math.floor(diskUsage.numTotalBytes / (10 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024))}GB`;
+
+  // Include the CodeQL version in the cache key so we will try again to use overlay analysis when
+  // new queries and libraries that may be more efficient are released.
+  return `codeql-overlay-status-${language}-${(await codeql.getVersion()).version}-runner-${diskSpaceToNearest10Gb}`;
+}