diff --git a/desktop/flipper-dump/src/index.tsx b/desktop/flipper-dump/src/index.tsx
index 01c7aa3c6..b1fd2be0e 100644
--- a/desktop/flipper-dump/src/index.tsx
+++ b/desktop/flipper-dump/src/index.tsx
@@ -48,6 +48,17 @@ const argv = yargs
       type: 'string',
       demandOption: true,
     },
+    settingsString: {
+      describe: `override the existing defaults settings of flipper (settings.json file) e.g "{"androidHome":"/usr/local/bin","enableAndroid":true}"`,
+      type: 'string',
+      default: '',
+    },
+    launcherSettings: {
+      describe:
+        'Open Flipper with the configuration stored in .config folder for the launcher',
+      type: 'boolean',
+      default: true,
+    },
     // TODO: support filtering events
     // TODO: support verbose mode
     // TODO: support post processing messages
@@ -90,9 +101,9 @@ async function start(deviceQuery: string, appName: string, pluginId: string) {
           execPath: process.execPath,
           desktopPath: `/dev/null`,
         },
-        launcherSettings: await loadLauncherSettings(),
+        launcherSettings: await loadLauncherSettings(argv.launcherSettings),
         processConfig: loadProcessConfig(process.env),
-        settings: await loadSettings(),
+        settings: await loadSettings(argv.settingsString),
         validWebSocketOrigins: [],
       },
       logger,
diff --git a/desktop/flipper-server-core/src/utils/launcherSettings.tsx b/desktop/flipper-server-core/src/utils/launcherSettings.tsx
index 9b996fab6..38e24fa20 100644
--- a/desktop/flipper-server-core/src/utils/launcherSettings.tsx
+++ b/desktop/flipper-server-core/src/utils/launcherSettings.tsx
@@ -65,7 +65,13 @@ function deserialize(content: string): LauncherSettings {
   };
 }
 
-export async function loadLauncherSettings(): Promise<LauncherSettings> {
+export async function loadLauncherSettings(
+  enableLauncherSettings: boolean = true,
+): Promise<LauncherSettings> {
+  if (!enableLauncherSettings) {
+    return defaultLauncherSettings;
+  }
+
   const fileName = getLauncherSettingsFile();
   try {
     const content = (await fs.readFile(fileName)).toString();
diff --git a/desktop/flipper-server-core/src/utils/settings.tsx b/desktop/flipper-server-core/src/utils/settings.tsx
index a3a46ac19..28b02a920 100644
--- a/desktop/flipper-server-core/src/utils/settings.tsx
+++ b/desktop/flipper-server-core/src/utils/settings.tsx
@@ -13,7 +13,16 @@ import xdg from 'xdg-basedir';
 import {Settings, Tristate} from 'flipper-common';
 import {readFile, writeFile, pathExists, mkdirp} from 'fs-extra';
 
-export async function loadSettings(): Promise<Settings> {
+export async function loadSettings(
+  settingsString: string = '',
+): Promise<Settings> {
+  if (settingsString !== '') {
+    try {
+      return replaceDefaultSettings(JSON.parse(settingsString));
+    } catch (e) {
+      throw new Error("couldn't read the user settingsString");
+    }
+  }
   if (!pathExists(getSettingsFile())) {
     return getDefaultSettings();
   }
@@ -74,3 +83,7 @@ function getDefaultAndroidSdkPath() {
 function getWindowsSdkPath() {
   return `${os.homedir()}\\AppData\\Local\\android\\sdk`;
 }
+
+function replaceDefaultSettings(userSettings: Partial<Settings>): Settings {
+  return {...getDefaultSettings(), ...userSettings};
+}
diff --git a/desktop/flipper-server/src/index.tsx b/desktop/flipper-server/src/index.tsx
index 58d7dd8c6..a83f35315 100644
--- a/desktop/flipper-server/src/index.tsx
+++ b/desktop/flipper-server/src/index.tsx
@@ -44,6 +44,17 @@ const argv = yargs
       type: 'boolean',
       default: false,
     },
+    settingsString: {
+      describe: `override the existing defaults settings of flipper (settings.json file) e.g "{"androidHome":"/usr/local/bin","enableAndroid":true}"`,
+      type: 'string',
+      default: '',
+    },
+    launcherSettings: {
+      describe:
+        'Open Flipper with the configuration stored in .config folder for the launcher',
+      type: 'boolean',
+      default: true,
+    },
   })
   .version('DEV')
   .help()
@@ -71,7 +82,12 @@ async function start() {
     staticDir,
     entry: 'index.web.dev.html',
   });
-  const flipperServer = await startFlipperServer(rootDir, staticDir);
+  const flipperServer = await startFlipperServer(
+    rootDir,
+    staticDir,
+    argv.settingsString,
+    argv.launcherSettings,
+  );
   if (argv.failFast) {
     flipperServer.on('server-state', ({state}) => {
       if (state === 'error') {
diff --git a/desktop/flipper-server/src/startFlipperServer.tsx b/desktop/flipper-server/src/startFlipperServer.tsx
index a439602e4..adda074e9 100644
--- a/desktop/flipper-server/src/startFlipperServer.tsx
+++ b/desktop/flipper-server/src/startFlipperServer.tsx
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ import fs from 'fs';
 export async function startFlipperServer(
   rootDir: string,
   staticPath: string,
+  settingsString: string,
+  enableLauncherSettings: boolean,
 ): Promise<FlipperServerImpl> {
   if (os.platform() === 'darwin') {
     // By default Node.JS has its internal certificate storage and doesn't use
@@ -85,9 +87,9 @@ export async function startFlipperServer(
         tempPath: os.tmpdir(),
         desktopPath: desktopPath,
       },
-      launcherSettings: await loadLauncherSettings(),
+      launcherSettings: await loadLauncherSettings(enableLauncherSettings),
       processConfig: loadProcessConfig(env),
-      settings: await loadSettings(),
+      settings: await loadSettings(settingsString),
       validWebSocketOrigins: ['localhost:', 'http://localhost:'],
     },
     logger,