diff --git a/openpype/cli.py b/openpype/cli.py
index 0df277fb0a..7422f32f13 100644
--- a/openpype/cli.py
+++ b/openpype/cli.py
@@ -290,11 +290,15 @@ def run(script):
               "--setup_only",
               help="Only create dbs, do not run tests",
               default=None)
+@click.option("--mongo_url",
+              help="MongoDB for testing.",
+              default=None)
 def runtests(folder, mark, pyargs, test_data_folder, persist, app_variant,
-             timeout, setup_only):
+             timeout, setup_only, mongo_url):
     """Run all automatic tests after proper initialization via start.py"""
     PypeCommands().run_tests(folder, mark, pyargs, test_data_folder,
-                             persist, app_variant, timeout, setup_only)
+                             persist, app_variant, timeout, setup_only,
+                             mongo_url)
 
 
 @main.command(help="DEPRECATED - run sync server")
diff --git a/openpype/pype_commands.py b/openpype/pype_commands.py
index 7f1c3b01e2..7adebbbc97 100644
--- a/openpype/pype_commands.py
+++ b/openpype/pype_commands.py
@@ -213,7 +213,8 @@ class PypeCommands:
         pass
 
     def run_tests(self, folder, mark, pyargs,
-                  test_data_folder, persist, app_variant, timeout, setup_only):
+                  test_data_folder, persist, app_variant, timeout, setup_only,
+                  mongo_url):
         """
             Runs tests from 'folder'
 
@@ -226,6 +227,10 @@ class PypeCommands:
                     end
                 app_variant (str): variant (eg 2020 for AE), empty if use
                     latest installed version
+                timeout (int): explicit timeout for single test
+                setup_only (bool): if only preparation steps should be
+                    triggered, no tests (useful for debugging/development)
+                mongo_url (str): url to Openpype Mongo database
         """
         print("run_tests")
         if folder:
@@ -264,6 +269,15 @@ class PypeCommands:
         if setup_only:
             args.extend(["--setup_only", setup_only])
 
+        if mongo_url:
+            args.extend(["--mongo_url", mongo_url])
+        else:
+            msg = (
+                "Either provide uri to MongoDB through environment variable"
+                " OPENPYPE_MONGO or the command flag --mongo_url"
+            )
+            assert not os.environ.get("OPENPYPE_MONGO"), msg
+
         print("run_tests args: {}".format(args))
         import pytest
         pytest.main(args)
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index 4f7c17244b..6e82c9917d 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -29,6 +29,11 @@ def pytest_addoption(parser):
         help="True - only setup test, do not run any tests"
     )
 
+    parser.addoption(
+        "--mongo_url", action="store", default=None,
+        help="Provide url of the Mongo database."
+    )
+
 
 @pytest.fixture(scope="module")
 def test_data_folder(request):
@@ -55,6 +60,11 @@ def setup_only(request):
     return request.config.getoption("--setup_only")
 
 
+@pytest.fixture(scope="module")
+def mongo_url(request):
+    return request.config.getoption("--mongo_url")
+
+
 @pytest.hookimpl(tryfirst=True, hookwrapper=True)
 def pytest_runtest_makereport(item, call):
     # execute all other hooks to obtain the report object
diff --git a/tests/lib/testing_classes.py b/tests/lib/testing_classes.py
index 2af4af02de..e82e438e54 100644
--- a/tests/lib/testing_classes.py
+++ b/tests/lib/testing_classes.py
@@ -147,11 +147,11 @@ class ModuleUnitTest(BaseTest):
 
     @pytest.fixture(scope="module")
     def db_setup(self, download_test_data, env_var, monkeypatch_session,
-                 request):
+                 request, mongo_url):
         """Restore prepared MongoDB dumps into selected DB."""
         backup_dir = os.path.join(download_test_data, "input", "dumps")
 
-        uri = os.environ.get("OPENPYPE_MONGO")
+        uri = mongo_url or os.environ.get("OPENPYPE_MONGO")
         db_handler = DBHandler(uri)
         db_handler.setup_from_dump(self.TEST_DB_NAME, backup_dir,
                                    overwrite=True,