diff --git a/packages/kbn-plugin-helpers/bin/plugin-helpers.js b/packages/kbn-plugin-helpers/bin/plugin-helpers.js
index 69dbf05a9883..f314d64ae6ba 100755
--- a/packages/kbn-plugin-helpers/bin/plugin-helpers.js
+++ b/packages/kbn-plugin-helpers/bin/plugin-helpers.js
@@ -5,15 +5,18 @@ var program = require('commander');
 var pkg = require('../package.json');
 var run = require('../lib/run');
 var docs = require('../lib/docs');
+var enableCollectingUnknownOptions = require('../lib/enable_collecting_unknown_options');
 
 program
   .version(pkg.version);
 
-program
-  .command('start')
-  .description('Start kibana and have it include this plugin')
-  .on('--help', docs('start'))
-  .action(run('start'));
+enableCollectingUnknownOptions(
+  program
+    .command('start')
+    .description('Start kibana and have it include this plugin')
+    .on('--help', docs('start'))
+    .action(run('start'))
+);
 
 program
   .command('build')
diff --git a/packages/kbn-plugin-helpers/lib/enable_collecting_unknown_options.js b/packages/kbn-plugin-helpers/lib/enable_collecting_unknown_options.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..1b87c2abd5f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kbn-plugin-helpers/lib/enable_collecting_unknown_options.js
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+
+module.exports = function enableCollectingUnknownOptions(command) {
+  var origParse = command.parseOptions;
+  command.allowUnknownOption();
+  command.parseOptions = function (argv) {
+    let opts = origParse.call(this, argv);
+    this.unkownOptions = opts.unknown;
+    return opts;
+  };
+};
diff --git a/packages/kbn-plugin-helpers/tasks/start/start_action.js b/packages/kbn-plugin-helpers/tasks/start/start_action.js
index bbcd0b42bb54..6f459e6c6426 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-plugin-helpers/tasks/start/start_action.js
+++ b/packages/kbn-plugin-helpers/tasks/start/start_action.js
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
-module.exports = function (plugin) {
+module.exports = function (plugin, command) {
   var resolve = require('path').resolve;
   var execFileSync = require('child_process').execFileSync;
 
   var kibanaDir = resolve(plugin.root, '../kibana');
 
   var cmd = (process.platform === 'win32') ? 'bin\\kibana.bat' : 'bin/kibana';
-  var args = ['--dev', '--plugin-path', plugin.root];
+  var args = ['--dev', '--plugin-path', plugin.root, ...command.unkownOptions];
   execFileSync(cmd, args, {
     cwd: kibanaDir,
     stdio: 'inherit'