diff --git a/ql/src/queries/performance/MissingNomagic.ql b/ql/src/queries/performance/MissingNomagic.ql
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..13084bf6ad6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ql/src/queries/performance/MissingNomagic.ql
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+/**
+ * @name Candidate predicate not marked as `nomagic`
+ * @description A candidate predicate should be marked as `nomagic` to prevent unnecessary computation.
+ * @kind problem
+ * @problem.severity warning
+ * @id ql/cand-missing-nomagic
+ * @tags performance
+ * @precision medium
+ */
+
+import ql
+
+/**
+ * Holds if the set of tuples satisfying `cand` is an upper bound for
+ * the set of tuples satisfying `f`
+ */
+predicate guards(Predicate cand, Formula f) {
+  forex(Formula child | child = f.(Disjunction).getAnOperand() | guards(cand, child))
+  or
+  guards(cand, f.(Conjunction).getAnOperand())
+  or
+  exists(Call call | f = call |
+    call.getTarget() = cand
+    or
+    guards(cand, call.getTarget().(Predicate).getBody())
+  )
+  or
+  exists(Quantifier q | f = q | guards(cand, [q.getFormula(), q.getRange()]))
+  or
+  exists(IfFormula ifFormula | ifFormula = f |
+    guards(cand, ifFormula.getThenPart()) and guards(cand, ifFormula.getElsePart())
+  )
+}
+
+pragma[noinline]
+predicate hasNameWithNumberSuffix(Predicate p, string name, int n) {
+  n = [1 .. 10] and
+  p.getName() = name + n.toString()
+}
+
+/**
+ * A candidate predicate for another predicate.
+ *
+ * A predicate `p0` is a candidate for another predicate `p` when the tuples
+ * that satisfy `p0` upper bounds the set of tuples that satisfy `p`.
+ */
+class CandidatePredicate extends Predicate {
+  Predicate pred;
+
+  CandidatePredicate() {
+    // This predicate "guards" the predicate `pred` (i.e., it's always evaluated before `pred`).
+    guards(this, pred.getBody()) and
+    (
+      // The name of `pred` is "foo", and the name of this predicate is `foo0`, or `fooHelper`, or any
+      // other the other cases.
+      pragma[only_bind_into](pred).getName() =
+        this.getName()
+            .regexpCapture("(.+)" + ["0", "helper", "aux", "cand", "Helper", "Aux", "Cand"], 1)
+      or
+      // Or this this predicate is named "foo02" and `pred` is named "foo01".
+      exists(int n, string name |
+        hasNameWithNumberSuffix(pred, name, n) and
+        hasNameWithNumberSuffix(this, name, n - 1)
+      )
+    )
+  }
+
+  /** Holds if this predicate is a candidate predicate for `p`. */
+  predicate isCandidateFor(Predicate p) { p = pred }
+}
+
+from CandidatePredicate cand, Predicate pred
+where
+  // The candidate predicate is not in a test directory.
+  not cand.getLocation().getFile().getAbsolutePath().matches("%/" + ["meta", "test"] + "/%") and
+  cand.isCandidateFor(pred) and
+  not cand.getAnAnnotation() instanceof NoMagic and
+  not cand.getAnAnnotation() instanceof NoOpt
+select cand, "Candidate predicate to $@ is not marked as nomagic.", pred, pred.getName()