diff --git a/ci/release/template/man/d2.1 b/ci/release/template/man/d2.1
index ed1b37017..8cc62a472 100644
--- a/ci/release/template/man/d2.1
+++ b/ci/release/template/man/d2.1
@@ -80,6 +80,9 @@ Renders the diagram to look like it was sketched by hand
 .It Fl -pad Ar 100
 Pixels padded around the rendered diagram
 .Ns .
+.It Fl -browser Ar true
+Open the browser and go to the address that watch streams updates to
+.Ns .
 .It Fl l , -layout Ar dagre
 Set the diagram layout engine to the passed string. For a list of available options, run
 .Ar layout
diff --git a/d2cli/main.go b/d2cli/main.go
index 5c92efb5e..a65d2a12e 100644
--- a/d2cli/main.go
+++ b/d2cli/main.go
@@ -83,6 +83,10 @@ func Run(ctx context.Context, ms *xmain.State) (err error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
+	browserFlag, err := ms.Opts.Bool("BROWSER", "browser", "", true, "open the browser and go to the address that watch streams updates to")
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 
 	ps, err := d2plugin.ListPlugins(ctx)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -126,6 +130,9 @@ func Run(ctx context.Context, ms *xmain.State) (err error) {
 	if *debugFlag {
 		ms.Env.Setenv("DEBUG", "1")
 	}
+	if !*browserFlag {
+		ms.Env.Setenv("BROWSER", "0")
+	}
 
 	var inputPath string
 	var outputPath string