diff --git a/control_plane/src/local_env.rs b/control_plane/src/local_env.rs
index ac4ebd0d1e..3d750fbac7 100644
--- a/control_plane/src/local_env.rs
+++ b/control_plane/src/local_env.rs
@@ -156,6 +156,8 @@ pub struct PageServerConf {
 
     // jwt auth token used for communication with pageserver
     pub auth_token: String,
+
+    pub testing_mode: bool,
 }
 
 impl Default for PageServerConf {
@@ -166,6 +168,7 @@ impl Default for PageServerConf {
             listen_http_addr: String::new(),
             auth_type: AuthType::Trust,
             auth_token: String::new(),
+            testing_mode: false,
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/control_plane/src/pageserver.rs b/control_plane/src/pageserver.rs
index d845c9d7e9..bbec894ca7 100644
--- a/control_plane/src/pageserver.rs
+++ b/control_plane/src/pageserver.rs
@@ -141,6 +141,9 @@ impl PageServerNode {
         init_config_overrides.push(&listen_http_addr_param);
         init_config_overrides.push(&listen_pg_addr_param);
         init_config_overrides.push(&broker_endpoints_param);
+        if self.env.pageserver.testing_mode {
+            init_config_overrides.push("testing_mode=true");
+        }
 
         if let Some(broker_etcd_prefix_param) = broker_etcd_prefix_param.as_deref() {
             init_config_overrides.push(broker_etcd_prefix_param);