diff --git a/lib/pleroma/user.ex b/lib/pleroma/user.ex
index 468e124b5..3d4815aca 100644
--- a/lib/pleroma/user.ex
+++ b/lib/pleroma/user.ex
@@ -2307,6 +2307,15 @@ defmodule Pleroma.User do
 
   def public_key(_), do: {:error, "key not found"}
 
+  def get_or_fetch_public_key_for_ap_id(ap_id) do
+    with {:ok, %User{} = user} <- get_or_fetch_by_ap_id(ap_id),
+         {:ok, public_key} <- public_key(user) do
+      {:ok, public_key}
+    else
+      _ -> :error
+    end
+  end
+
   def get_public_key_for_ap_id(ap_id) do
     with %User{} = user <- get_cached_by_ap_id(ap_id),
          {:ok, public_key} <- public_key(user) do
diff --git a/test/pleroma/user_test.exs b/test/pleroma/user_test.exs
index 0b4dc9197..b2533e9f1 100644
--- a/test/pleroma/user_test.exs
+++ b/test/pleroma/user_test.exs
@@ -1881,6 +1881,11 @@ defmodule Pleroma.UserTest do
     end
   end
 
+  test "get_or_fetch_public_key_for_ap_id fetches a user that's not in the db" do
+    assert {:ok, _key} =
+             User.get_or_fetch_public_key_for_ap_id("http://mastodon.example.org/users/admin")
+  end
+
   test "get_public_key_for_ap_id returns correctly for user that's not in the db" do
     assert :error = User.get_public_key_for_ap_id("http://mastodon.example.org/users/admin")
   end