diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index f0b19a1cb42cb4600a9168951f4bd90056e1dda2..0e963720daec12f9de0328e911e01267cf99f194 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -115,6 +115,9 @@ ENV USE_LUNCH false
 # Include flash binaries and script to the resulting img zip
 ENV BUILD_FLASH_PACKAGE false
 
+# specify a custom manifest URL
+ENV REPO_CUSTOM_MANIFEST false
+
 
 # You can optionally specify a USERSCRIPTS_DIR volume containing these scripts:
 #  * begin.sh, run at the very beginning
diff --git a/src/build.sh b/src/build.sh
index f6e3cd7075e1404ba3429bc23d6ce56561fdf028..62745f8cc7b896a30e40bc665dec66ca3cf21214 100755
--- a/src/build.sh
+++ b/src/build.sh
@@ -102,8 +102,17 @@ if [ -n "${BRANCH_NAME}" ] && [ -n "${DEVICE}" ]; then
   if [ -n ${REPO_INIT_DEPTH} ] && [ ${REPO_INIT_DEPTH} -gt 0 ]; then
     REPO_INIT_PARAM="--depth ${REPO_INIT_DEPTH}"
   fi
+  if [ -f ".repo/manifests/default.xml" ]; then
+    cd .repo/manifests/
+    git checkout default.xml
+    cd ../..
+  fi
   yes | repo init $REPO_INIT_PARAM -u "$REPO" -b "${TAG_PREFIX}${BRANCH_NAME}"
 
+  if [ "$REPO_CUSTOM_MANIFEST" != false ]; then
+    wget -O .repo/manifests/default.xml $REPO_CUSTOM_MANIFEST
+  fi
+
   # Copy local manifests to the appropriate folder in order take them into consideration
   echo ">> [$(date)] Copying '$LMANIFEST_DIR/*.xml' to '.repo/local_manifests/'"
   mkdir -p .repo/local_manifests