diff --git a/packages/backend-core/src/environment.ts b/packages/backend-core/src/environment.ts
index 138dbbd9e0..66c91b19fb 100644
--- a/packages/backend-core/src/environment.ts
+++ b/packages/backend-core/src/environment.ts
@@ -183,6 +183,7 @@ const environment = {
     environment[key] = value
   },
   ROLLING_LOG_MAX_SIZE: process.env.ROLLING_LOG_MAX_SIZE || "10M",
+  SKIP_APP_MIGRATIONS: process.env.SKIP_APP_MIGRATIONS || false,
 }
 
 // clean up any environment variable edge cases
diff --git a/packages/server/src/middleware/appMigrations.ts b/packages/server/src/middleware/appMigrations.ts
index 36e021c7ed..1fb13094c6 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/middleware/appMigrations.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/middleware/appMigrations.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,14 @@
 import { UserCtx } from "@budibase/types"
 import { checkMissingMigrations } from "../appMigrations"
+import { env } from "@budibase/backend-core"
 
 export default async (ctx: UserCtx, next: any) => {
   const { appId } = ctx
 
+  if (env.SKIP_APP_MIGRATIONS) {
+    return next()
+  }
+
   if (!appId) {
     return next()
   }