diff --git a/connectomics/common/utils.py b/connectomics/common/utils.py
index cf8b7c9..6e391ae 100644
--- a/connectomics/common/utils.py
+++ b/connectomics/common/utils.py
@@ -15,9 +15,11 @@
 """Various utility functions."""
 
 import contextlib
+import dataclasses
 import itertools
 import re
 import time
+from typing import Any, Protocol, TypeVar
 
 from absl import logging
 import dataclasses_json
@@ -108,3 +110,48 @@ def report_time(name):
 def pascal_to_kebab(name: str) -> str:
   """Converts a PascalCase name to kebab-case."""
   return _PASCAL_TO_KEBAB_RE.sub('-', name).lower()
+
+
+# This is a kludge, since dataclasses do not export their typeshed for dataclass
+# externally.
+class IsDataclass(Protocol):
+  __dataclass_fields__: dict[str, Any]
+
+
+D = TypeVar('D', bound=IsDataclass)
+
+
+# TODO(timblakely): Move to a more appropriate location.
+# TODO(timblakely): Support Sequences of Dataclasses.
+def update_dataclass(
+    source: D,
+    overrides: dict[str, Any],
+    apply_recursive: bool = True,
+) -> D:
+  """Recursively updates a dataclass with overrides.
+
+  Contrary to dataclasses.replace, this function will only update attributes
+  that are present in the source dataclass, and will apply recursively to
+  sub-dataclasses.
+
+  Args:
+    source: The dataclass to update.
+    overrides: A mapping of attribute name to value to override.
+    apply_recursive: Whether to apply the overrides recursively to
+      sub-dataclasses or not.
+
+  Returns:
+    A new dataclass with the overrides applied.
+  """
+  params = {}
+  for k, v in overrides.items():
+    if not hasattr(source, k):
+      raise ValueError(f'Attribute {k} not found in {source}')
+    attr = getattr(source, k)
+    if dataclasses.is_dataclass(attr) and apply_recursive:
+      params[k] = update_dataclass(attr, v)
+    else:
+      params[k] = v
+
+  source = dataclasses.replace(source, **params)
+  return source