diff --git a/scripts/apply_patches.sh b/scripts/apply_patches.sh
index 8e92a2121b84..177b452319a9 100755
--- a/scripts/apply_patches.sh
+++ b/scripts/apply_patches.sh
@@ -6,6 +6,31 @@ CDIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" ; pwd -P)"
 XDIR=$CDIR/..
 PTDIR=$XDIR/..
 
+TORCH_PIN="$XDIR/torch_patches/.torch_pin"
+if [ -f "$TORCH_PIN" ]; then
+  CID=$(cat "$TORCH_PIN")
+  # If starts with # and it's not merged into master, fetch from origin
+  if [[ $CID = \#* ]]; then
+    PRNUM="${CID//[!0-9]/}"
+    set +x
+    MCHECK=$(git -C $PTDIR log -1000)
+    if [[ $MCHECK != *"Pull Request resolved: https://github.com/pytorch/pytorch/pull/$PRNUM"* ]]; then
+      echo "Fetching PyTorch PR #$PRNUM"
+      pushd "$PTDIR"
+      git fetch origin "pull/$PRNUM/head:$PRNUM"
+      git checkout "$PRNUM"
+      popd
+    fi
+    set -x
+  elif [[ "$CID" != "" ]]; then
+    echo 'Checking out branch $CID'
+    pushd "$PTDIR"
+    git fetch origin "$CID"
+    git checkout "$CID"
+    popd
+  fi
+fi
+
 python $CDIR/cond_patch.py \
   $XDIR/torch_patches \
-  $PTDIR
+  $PTDIR
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/torch_patches/README.md b/torch_patches/README.md
index 694716d6b1ee..78697bc23cd6 100644
--- a/torch_patches/README.md
+++ b/torch_patches/README.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Guidelines For Patch File Names
 
-The only files which are considered by the apply script are the ones with extension '.diff'.
+Files with extension '.diff' are consider as git patches by apply script.
 
 A file for PyTorch PR _N_ needs to be named 'N.diff'.
 
@@ -15,3 +15,17 @@ X10-optimizer.diff
 Patch file are alphabetically ordered, so PyTorch PR patches are always applied
 before the non PyTorch ones.
 
+
+There's a special file `torch_patches/.torch_pin`, which is used to coordinate landing PRs in
+`pytorch/pytorch` and `pytorch/xla`.
+
+To test a `pytorch/xla` PR against a `pytorch/pytorch` PR or branch,
+put the PR number or branch name in this file.
+Example:
+
+```
+#32451
+# or
+my_awesome_branch # (must live in `pytorch/pytorch`)
+```
+