diff --git a/pageserver/page_api/proto/page_service.proto b/pageserver/page_api/proto/page_service.proto
index 7d01dec4ab..81953a710f 100644
--- a/pageserver/page_api/proto/page_service.proto
+++ b/pageserver/page_api/proto/page_service.proto
@@ -108,6 +108,8 @@ message GetBaseBackupRequest {
   uint64 lsn = 1;
   // If true, logical replication slots will not be created.
   bool replica = 2;
+  // If true, include relation files in the base backup. Mainly for debugging and tests.
+  bool full = 3;
 }
 
 // Base backup response chunk, returned as an ordered stream.
diff --git a/pageserver/page_api/src/model.rs b/pageserver/page_api/src/model.rs
index a01bba0572..ef7f89473f 100644
--- a/pageserver/page_api/src/model.rs
+++ b/pageserver/page_api/src/model.rs
@@ -189,6 +189,8 @@ pub struct GetBaseBackupRequest {
     pub lsn: Option<Lsn>,
     /// If true, logical replication slots will not be created.
     pub replica: bool,
+    /// If true, include relation files in the base backup. Mainly for debugging and tests.
+    pub full: bool,
 }
 
 impl From<proto::GetBaseBackupRequest> for GetBaseBackupRequest {
@@ -196,6 +198,7 @@ impl From<proto::GetBaseBackupRequest> for GetBaseBackupRequest {
         Self {
             lsn: (pb.lsn != 0).then_some(Lsn(pb.lsn)),
             replica: pb.replica,
+            full: pb.full,
         }
     }
 }
@@ -205,6 +208,7 @@ impl From<GetBaseBackupRequest> for proto::GetBaseBackupRequest {
         Self {
             lsn: request.lsn.unwrap_or_default().0,
             replica: request.replica,
+            full: request.full,
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/pageserver/src/page_service.rs b/pageserver/src/page_service.rs
index 79c4c0faa9..ff435451c3 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/page_service.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/page_service.rs
@@ -3572,9 +3572,6 @@ impl proto::PageService for GrpcPageServiceHandler {
         }
 
         // Spawn a task to run the basebackup.
-        //
-        // TODO: do we need to support full base backups, for debugging? This also requires passing
-        // the prev_lsn parameter.
         let span = Span::current();
         let (mut simplex_read, mut simplex_write) = tokio::io::simplex(CHUNK_SIZE);
         let jh = tokio::spawn(async move {
@@ -3583,7 +3580,7 @@ impl proto::PageService for GrpcPageServiceHandler {
                 &timeline,
                 req.lsn,
                 None,
-                false,
+                req.full,
                 req.replica,
                 &ctx,
             )