diff --git a/lib/cmd.js b/lib/cmd.js
index c78c26423..081f3d896 100644
--- a/lib/cmd.js
+++ b/lib/cmd.js
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@ class Cmd {
   build() {
     program
       .command('build [environment]')
+      .option('--contracts', 'only compile contracts into Embark wrappers')
       .option('--logfile [logfile]', __('filename to output logs (default: none)'))
       .option('--loglevel [loglevel]', __('level of logging to display') + ' ["error", "warn", "info", "debug", "trace"]', /^(error|warn|info|debug|trace)$/i, 'debug')
       .option('--locale [locale]', __('language to use (default: en)'))
@@ -101,6 +102,7 @@ class Cmd {
         _options.env = env || 'development';
         _options.logFile = _options.logfile; // fix casing
         _options.logLevel = _options.loglevel; // fix casing
+        _options.onlyCompile = _options.contracts;
         embark.build(_options);
       });
   }
diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index 1a38757ed..00dcb5f43 100644
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ class Embark {
         engine.startService("web3");
         engine.startService("pipeline");
         engine.startService("codeGenerator");
-        engine.startService("deployment");
+        engine.startService("deployment", {onlyCompile: options.onlyCompile});
         engine.startService("ipfs");
         engine.startService("swarm", {bzz: engine.web3.bzz});
         callback();