diff --git a/options.go b/options.go
index 9a5be9a..56af078 100644
--- a/options.go
+++ b/options.go
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ type TransportOptions struct {
 	RoutingKey          string            `long:"rk" description:"The routing key overrides the service name traffic group for proxies."`
 	RoutingDelegate     string            `long:"rd" description:"The routing delegate overrides the routing key traffic group for proxies."`
 	ShardKey            string            `long:"sk" description:"The shard key is a transport header that clues where to send a request within a clustered traffic group."`
+	RPCEncoding         string            `long:"en" description:"Override the rpc-encoding header/metadata value for gRPC and HTTP transports. This does not re-encode the request body and is intended for development."`
 	Jaeger              bool              `long:"jaeger" description:"Use the Jaeger tracing client to send Uber style traces and baggage headers"`
 	TransportHeaders    map[string]string `short:"T" long:"topt" description:"Transport options for TChannel, protocol headers for HTTP"`
 	HTTPMethod          string            `long:"http-method" description:"The HTTP method to use"`
diff --git a/rpc_encoding_flag_test.go b/rpc_encoding_flag_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..70282dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rpc_encoding_flag_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"net"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/opentracing/opentracing-go"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+	"github.com/yarpc/yab/encoding"
+	yabtransport "github.com/yarpc/yab/transport"
+
+	apitransport "go.uber.org/yarpc/api/transport"
+	yarpcgrpc "go.uber.org/yarpc/transport/grpc"
+)
+
+type unaryHandlerFunc func(context.Context, *apitransport.Request, apitransport.ResponseWriter) error
+
+func (f unaryHandlerFunc) Handle(ctx context.Context, req *apitransport.Request, resw apitransport.ResponseWriter) error {
+	return f(ctx, req, resw)
+}
+
+type encodingCaptureRouter struct {
+	expectedService   string
+	expectedProcedure string
+	capturedEncoding  chan string
+}
+
+func (r *encodingCaptureRouter) Procedures() []apitransport.Procedure {
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (r *encodingCaptureRouter) Choose(_ context.Context, req *apitransport.Request) (apitransport.HandlerSpec, error) {
+	if req.Service == r.expectedService && req.Procedure == r.expectedProcedure {
+		select {
+		case r.capturedEncoding <- string(req.Encoding):
+		default:
+		}
+		return apitransport.NewUnaryHandlerSpec(unaryHandlerFunc(func(_ context.Context, _ *apitransport.Request, resw apitransport.ResponseWriter) error {
+			_, _ = resw.Write([]byte("ok"))
+			return nil
+		})), nil
+	}
+	return apitransport.HandlerSpec{}, apitransport.UnrecognizedProcedureError(req)
+}
+
+func TestRPCEncodingFlagOverridesGRPCHeader(t *testing.T) {
+	const want = "dev-override"
+
+	gt := yarpcgrpc.NewTransport(yarpcgrpc.Tracer(opentracing.NoopTracer{}))
+	require.NoError(t, gt.Start())
+	defer func() { _ = gt.Stop() }()
+
+	lis, err := net.Listen("tcp", "127.0.0.1:0")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	defer func() { _ = lis.Close() }()
+
+	router := &encodingCaptureRouter{
+		expectedService:   "svc",
+		expectedProcedure: "svc::echo",
+		capturedEncoding:  make(chan string, 1),
+	}
+
+	inbound := gt.NewInbound(lis)
+	inbound.SetRouter(router)
+	require.NoError(t, inbound.Start())
+	defer func() { _ = inbound.Stop() }()
+
+	opts := TransportOptions{
+		ServiceName: "svc",
+		CallerName:  "caller",
+		Peers:       []string{lis.Addr().String()},
+		RPCEncoding: want,
+	}
+	tp, err := getTransport(opts, resolvedProtocolEncoding{protocol: yabtransport.GRPC, enc: encoding.Protobuf}, opentracing.NoopTracer{})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	_, err = tp.Call(context.Background(), &yabtransport.Request{TargetService: "svc", Method: "svc::echo", Body: []byte("hello")})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	select {
+	case got := <-router.capturedEncoding:
+		assert.Equal(t, want, got)
+	default:
+		t.Fatal("did not capture inbound encoding")
+	}
+}
diff --git a/transport.go b/transport.go
index 7dfff2a..6bc5e73 100644
--- a/transport.go
+++ b/transport.go
@@ -164,11 +164,15 @@ func getTransport(opts TransportOptions, resolved resolvedProtocolEncoding, trac
 	}
 
 	if resolved.protocol == transport.GRPC {
+		grpcEncoding := resolved.enc.String()
+		if opts.RPCEncoding != "" {
+			grpcEncoding = opts.RPCEncoding
+		}
 		return transport.NewGRPC(transport.GRPCOptions{
 			Addresses:       getHosts(opts.Peers),
 			Tracer:          tracer,
 			Caller:          opts.CallerName,
-			Encoding:        resolved.enc.String(),
+			Encoding:        grpcEncoding,
 			RoutingKey:      opts.RoutingKey,
 			RoutingDelegate: opts.RoutingDelegate,
 			MaxResponseSize: opts.GRPCMaxResponseSize,