diff --git a/gems/gitlab-active-context/lib/active_context/bulk_process_queue.rb b/gems/gitlab-active-context/lib/active_context/bulk_process_queue.rb
index 293420e74601544348174af85d17f64883ccaa6d..ba9737bd017d9266ef852947fe9e08e9ea52b805 100644
--- a/gems/gitlab-active-context/lib/active_context/bulk_process_queue.rb
+++ b/gems/gitlab-active-context/lib/active_context/bulk_process_queue.rb
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ def process(redis)
 
       refs = deserialize_all(specs_buffer)
 
-      Reference.preload(refs).each do |ref| # rubocop: disable Rails/FindEach -- not ActiveRecord
+      Reference.preprocess_references(refs).each do |ref|
         bulk_processor.process(ref)
       end
 
diff --git a/gems/gitlab-active-context/lib/active_context/concerns/preprocessor.rb b/gems/gitlab-active-context/lib/active_context/concerns/preprocessor.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..684c424791cffb12e13a1b7a240fb3f69ee28c32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gems/gitlab-active-context/lib/active_context/concerns/preprocessor.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+module ActiveContext
+  module Concerns
+    module Preprocessor
+      def preprocessors
+        @preprocessors ||= []
+      end
+
+      def add_preprocessor(name, &block)
+        preprocessors << { name: name, block: block }
+      end
+
+      def preprocess(refs)
+        refs_by_class = refs.group_by(&:class)
+        refs_by_class.flat_map do |klass, class_refs|
+          klass.preprocessors.reduce(class_refs) do |processed_refs, preprocessor|
+            preprocessor[:block].call(processed_refs)
+          end
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/gems/gitlab-active-context/lib/active_context/reference.rb b/gems/gitlab-active-context/lib/active_context/reference.rb
index 56a7d933d3bb10785ccbfc63ee14771543c28bf8..bda7d8612354d4d2450542cc00a6701852b96429 100644
--- a/gems/gitlab-active-context/lib/active_context/reference.rb
+++ b/gems/gitlab-active-context/lib/active_context/reference.rb
@@ -3,9 +3,9 @@
 module ActiveContext
   class Reference
     extend Concerns::ReferenceUtils
+    extend Concerns::Preprocessor
 
     DELIMITER = '|'
-    PRELOAD_BATCH_SIZE = 1_000
 
     class << self
       def deserialize(string)
@@ -22,27 +22,17 @@ def instantiate(string)
         new(*deserialize_string(string))
       end
 
-      def preload(refs)
-        refs.group_by(&:class).each do |klass, class_refs|
-          class_refs.each_slice(PRELOAD_BATCH_SIZE) do |group_slice|
-            klass.preload_refs(group_slice)
-          end
-        end
-
-        refs
-      end
-
       def serialize
         raise NotImplementedError
       end
 
-      def preload_refs(refs)
-        refs
-      end
-
       def klass
         name.demodulize
       end
+
+      def preprocess_references(refs)
+        preprocess(refs)
+      end
     end
 
     def klass
diff --git a/gems/gitlab-active-context/spec/lib/active_context/bulk_process_queue_spec.rb b/gems/gitlab-active-context/spec/lib/active_context/bulk_process_queue_spec.rb
index c8ca03336ff58b7b06487aa834fd2cb500595f81..3bddcf7b6b080229190a148990dc23c7c028bf61 100644
--- a/gems/gitlab-active-context/spec/lib/active_context/bulk_process_queue_spec.rb
+++ b/gems/gitlab-active-context/spec/lib/active_context/bulk_process_queue_spec.rb
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 
   describe '#process' do
     let(:specs) { [['spec1', 1], ['spec2', 2]] }
-    let(:reference_class) { class_double("ActiveContext::Reference", preload_refs: nil).as_stubbed_const }
+    let(:reference_class) { class_double("ActiveContext::Reference").as_stubbed_const }
     let(:references) { [instance_double('ActiveContext::Reference'), instance_double('ActiveContext::Reference')] }
 
     before do
@@ -29,8 +29,7 @@
       allow(bulk_process_queue).to receive(:deserialize_all).and_return(references)
       allow(redis).to receive(:zremrangebyscore)
       allow(references).to receive(:group_by).and_return({ reference_class => references })
-      allow(reference_class).to receive(:preload_refs)
-      allow(ActiveContext::Reference).to receive(:preload).and_return(references)
+      allow(reference_class).to receive(:preprocess_references).and_return(references)
     end
 
     it 'processes specs and flushes the bulk processor' do