diff --git a/modules/kobalt-plugin-api/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/Args.kt b/modules/kobalt-plugin-api/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/Args.kt
index d1cdc078..372f1ba1 100644
--- a/modules/kobalt-plugin-api/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/Args.kt
+++ b/modules/kobalt-plugin-api/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/Args.kt
@@ -61,6 +61,9 @@ class Args {
     @Parameter(names = arrayOf("--noIncremental"), description = "Turn off incremental builds")
     var noIncremental: Boolean = false
 
+    @Parameter(names = arrayOf("--offline"), description = "Don't try to download dependencies even if there is no cached version")
+    var offline: Boolean = false
+
     @Parameter(names = arrayOf("--plugins"), description = "Comma-separated list of plug-in Maven id's")
     var pluginIds: String? = null
 
diff --git a/modules/kobalt-plugin-api/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/maven/aether/Booter.kt b/modules/kobalt-plugin-api/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/maven/aether/Booter.kt
index e3b52dcd..02917929 100644
--- a/modules/kobalt-plugin-api/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/maven/aether/Booter.kt
+++ b/modules/kobalt-plugin-api/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/maven/aether/Booter.kt
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package com.beust.kobalt.maven.aether
 
 import com.beust.kobalt.internal.KobaltSettings
 import com.google.common.eventbus.EventBus
+import com.beust.kobalt.Args
 import org.eclipse.aether.DefaultRepositorySystemSession
 import org.eclipse.aether.RepositorySystem
 import org.eclipse.aether.repository.LocalRepository
@@ -32,8 +33,9 @@ object Booter {
 //    }
 
     fun newRepositorySystemSession(system: RepositorySystem, repo: File, settings: KobaltSettings,
-            eventBus: EventBus): DefaultRepositorySystemSession {
+            args: Args, eventBus: EventBus): DefaultRepositorySystemSession {
         val session = MavenRepositorySystemUtils.newSession(settings)
+        session.isOffline = args.offline
 
         val localRepo = LocalRepository(repo.absolutePath)
         session.localRepositoryManager = system.newLocalRepositoryManager(session, localRepo)
diff --git a/modules/kobalt-plugin-api/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/maven/aether/KobaltMavenResolver.kt b/modules/kobalt-plugin-api/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/maven/aether/KobaltMavenResolver.kt
index 06a7c993..f5fcde59 100644
--- a/modules/kobalt-plugin-api/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/maven/aether/KobaltMavenResolver.kt
+++ b/modules/kobalt-plugin-api/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/maven/aether/KobaltMavenResolver.kt
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ class KobaltMavenResolver @Inject constructor(val settings: KobaltSettings,
     fun create(id: String, optional: Boolean) = AetherDependency(DefaultArtifact(id), optional, args)
 
     private val system = Booter.newRepositorySystem()
-    private val session = Booter.newRepositorySystemSession(system, localRepo.localRepo, settings, eventBus)
+    private val session = Booter.newRepositorySystemSession(system, localRepo.localRepo, settings, args, eventBus)
 
     private fun createRepo(hostConfig: HostConfig) : RemoteRepository {
         val builder = RemoteRepository.Builder(hostConfig.name, "default", hostConfig.url)