diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 8d22e90f..580fa1e3 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -9,6 +9,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "gimli",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "ansi_term"
+version = "0.11.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "ee49baf6cb617b853aa8d93bf420db2383fab46d314482ca2803b40d5fde979b"
+dependencies = [
+ "winapi 0.3.8",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "anyhow"
 version = "1.0.31"
@@ -46,6 +55,17 @@ dependencies = [
  "thiserror",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "atty"
+version = "0.2.14"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "d9b39be18770d11421cdb1b9947a45dd3f37e93092cbf377614828a319d5fee8"
+dependencies = [
+ "hermit-abi",
+ "libc",
+ "winapi 0.3.8",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "autocfg"
 version = "1.0.0"
@@ -126,6 +146,21 @@ dependencies = [
  "time",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "clap"
+version = "2.33.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "bdfa80d47f954d53a35a64987ca1422f495b8d6483c0fe9f7117b36c2a792129"
+dependencies = [
+ "ansi_term",
+ "atty",
+ "bitflags",
+ "strsim",
+ "textwrap",
+ "unicode-width",
+ "vec_map",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "cloudabi"
 version = "0.0.3"
@@ -306,6 +341,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "backtrace",
  "bitflags",
  "chrono",
+ "clap",
  "crossbeam-channel",
  "crossterm",
  "dirs",
@@ -774,6 +810,12 @@ version = "1.4.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "c7cb5678e1615754284ec264d9bb5b4c27d2018577fd90ac0ceb578591ed5ee4"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "strsim"
+version = "0.8.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "8ea5119cdb4c55b55d432abb513a0429384878c15dde60cc77b1c99de1a95a6a"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "syn"
 version = "1.0.23"
@@ -799,6 +841,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "winapi 0.3.8",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "textwrap"
+version = "0.11.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "d326610f408c7a4eb6f51c37c330e496b08506c9457c9d34287ecc38809fb060"
+dependencies = [
+ "unicode-width",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "thiserror"
 version = "1.0.19"
@@ -897,6 +948,12 @@ version = "0.2.8"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "3fc439f2794e98976c88a2a2dafce96b930fe8010b0a256b3c2199a773933168"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "vec_map"
+version = "0.8.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "f1bddf1187be692e79c5ffeab891132dfb0f236ed36a43c7ed39f1165ee20191"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "wasi"
 version = "0.9.0+wasi-snapshot-preview1"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 4863b830..b5dbe580 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ keywords = [
 scopetime = { path = "./scopetime", version = "0.1" }
 asyncgit = { path = "./asyncgit", version = "0.4" }
 crossterm = "0.17"
+clap = "2.33"
 tui = { version = "0.9", default-features=false, features = ['crossterm'] }
 itertools = "0.9"
 rayon-core = "1.7"
@@ -50,4 +51,4 @@ members=[
 [profile.release]
 lto = true
 opt-level = 'z'  # Optimize for size.
-codegen-units = 1
\ No newline at end of file
+codegen-units = 1
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 08d4a463..f45aa387 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -23,6 +23,10 @@ use crate::{app::App, poll::QueueEvent};
 use anyhow::{anyhow, Result};
 use asyncgit::AsyncNotification;
 use backtrace::Backtrace;
+use clap::{
+    crate_authors, crate_description, crate_name, crate_version,
+    App as ClapApp, Arg,
+};
 use crossbeam_channel::{tick, unbounded, Receiver, Select};
 use crossterm::{
     terminal::{
@@ -53,7 +57,7 @@ static TICK_INTERVAL: Duration = Duration::from_secs(5);
 static SPINNER_INTERVAL: Duration = Duration::from_millis(50);
 
 fn main() -> Result<()> {
-    setup_logging()?;
+    process_cmdline()?;
 
     if invalid_path() {
         eprintln!("invalid git path\nplease run gitui inside of a git repository");
@@ -205,15 +209,35 @@ fn get_app_config_path() -> Result<PathBuf> {
 }
 
 fn setup_logging() -> Result<()> {
-    if env::var("GITUI_LOGGING").is_ok() {
-        let mut path = get_app_config_path()?;
-        path.push("gitui.log");
+    let mut path = get_app_config_path()?;
+    path.push("gitui.log");
 
-        let _ = WriteLogger::init(
-            LevelFilter::Trace,
-            Config::default(),
-            File::create(path)?,
+    let _ = WriteLogger::init(
+        LevelFilter::Trace,
+        Config::default(),
+        File::create(path)?,
+    );
+
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+fn process_cmdline() -> Result<()> {
+    let app = ClapApp::new(crate_name!())
+        .author(crate_authors!())
+        .version(crate_version!())
+        .about(crate_description!())
+        .arg(
+            Arg::with_name("gitui-logging")
+                .help("Stores logging output into a cache directory")
+                .short("l")
+                .long("gitui-logging")
+                .takes_value(false)
+                .required(false),
         );
+
+    let arg_matches = app.get_matches();
+    if arg_matches.is_present("gitui-logging") {
+        setup_logging()?;
     }
 
     Ok(())