diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 368aae7..2ee9527 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 *.dll
 *.so
 *.dylib
+*.swp
 
 .idea
 
diff --git a/internal/env/config.go b/internal/env/config.go
index 6751be9..4cd5471 100644
--- a/internal/env/config.go
+++ b/internal/env/config.go
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	StringValues       string   `split_words:"true"`                 // Argument to pass to --set-string in applicable helm commands
 	ValuesFiles        []string `split_words:"true"`                 // Arguments to pass to --values in applicable helm commands
 	Namespace          string   ``                                   // Kubernetes namespace for all helm commands
+	KubeInitSkip       bool     `envconfig:"kube_init_skip"`         // Skip kubeconfig creation
 	KubeToken          string   `split_words:"true"`                 // Kubernetes authentication token to put in .kube/config
 	SkipTLSVerify      bool     `envconfig:"skip_tls_verify"`        // Put insecure-skip-tls-verify in .kube/config
 	Certificate        string   `envconfig:"kube_certificate"`       // The Kubernetes cluster CA's self-signed certificate (must be base64-encoded)
diff --git a/internal/helm/plan.go b/internal/helm/plan.go
index 4f62162..50cb17b 100644
--- a/internal/helm/plan.go
+++ b/internal/helm/plan.go
@@ -92,7 +92,9 @@ func (p *Plan) Execute() error {
 
 var upgrade = func(cfg env.Config) []Step {
 	var steps []Step
-	steps = append(steps, run.NewInitKube(cfg, kubeConfigTemplate, kubeConfigFile))
+	if !cfg.KubeInitSkip {
+		steps = append(steps, run.NewInitKube(cfg, kubeConfigTemplate, kubeConfigFile))
+	}
 	for _, repo := range cfg.AddRepos {
 		steps = append(steps, run.NewAddRepo(cfg, repo))
 	}
@@ -112,7 +114,9 @@ var upgrade = func(cfg env.Config) []Step {
 
 var uninstall = func(cfg env.Config) []Step {
 	var steps []Step
-	steps = append(steps, run.NewInitKube(cfg, kubeConfigTemplate, kubeConfigFile))
+	if !cfg.KubeInitSkip {
+		steps = append(steps, run.NewInitKube(cfg, kubeConfigTemplate, kubeConfigFile))
+	}
 	if cfg.UpdateDependencies {
 		steps = append(steps, run.NewDepUpdate(cfg))
 	}
diff --git a/internal/helm/plan_test.go b/internal/helm/plan_test.go
index 77e913c..3f8a9a3 100644
--- a/internal/helm/plan_test.go
+++ b/internal/helm/plan_test.go
@@ -122,6 +122,12 @@ func (suite *PlanTestSuite) TestUpgrade() {
 	suite.IsType(&run.Upgrade{}, steps[1])
 }
 
+func (suite *PlanTestSuite) TestUpgradeWithKubeInitSkip() {
+	steps := upgrade(env.Config{KubeInitSkip: true})
+	suite.Require().Equal(1, len(steps), "upgrade should return 1 step")
+	suite.IsType(&run.Upgrade{}, steps[0])
+}
+
 func (suite *PlanTestSuite) TestUpgradeWithUpdateDependencies() {
 	cfg := env.Config{
 		UpdateDependencies: true,