diff --git a/PluralKit.Bot/BotConfig.cs b/PluralKit.Bot/BotConfig.cs
index a9db7233..0be554a1 100644
--- a/PluralKit.Bot/BotConfig.cs
+++ b/PluralKit.Bot/BotConfig.cs
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ public class BotConfig
     public bool HttpUseInnerCache { get; set; } = false;
 
     public string? HttpListenerAddr { get; set; }
+    public bool DisableGateway { get; set; } = false;
 
     public string? DiscordBaseUrl { get; set; }
     public string? AvatarServiceUrl { get; set; }
diff --git a/PluralKit.Bot/Init.cs b/PluralKit.Bot/Init.cs
index f19576de..c3046aa9 100644
--- a/PluralKit.Bot/Init.cs
+++ b/PluralKit.Bot/Init.cs
@@ -84,9 +84,11 @@ public class Init
                 services.Resolve<HttpListenerService>().Start(config.HttpListenerAddr);
 
             // Start the Discord shards themselves (handlers already set up)
-            logger.Information("Connecting to Discord");
-            await StartCluster(services);
-
+            if (!config.DisableGateway)
+            {
+                logger.Information("Connecting to Discord");
+                await StartCluster(services);
+            }
             logger.Information("Connected! All is good (probably).");
 
             // Lastly, we just... wait. Everything else is handled in the DiscordClient event loop