diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 13b7feed52..0b587b448b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -49,11 +49,11 @@ $ which -a pkg-config
 /usr/bin/pkg-config
 ```
 
-To compile and use the REPL, use the following command:
+To compile and use the REPL, use the following command to run the repl with suggestions enabled:
 
 ```
 $ go build ./cmd/flux
-$ ./flux repl
+$ ./flux --enable-suggestions
 ```
 
 Alternatively, because the `pkg-config` wrapper may not work in all projects you may not want to add the wrapper `pkg-config` to your `PATH`. In this case you can set `PKG_CONFIG` and Go will use it. Eg, to build and install to ${GOPATH}/bin using `PKG_CONFIG`:
diff --git a/cmd/flux/main.go b/cmd/flux/main.go
index 9dc5418b6e..8ac1680f2a 100644
--- a/cmd/flux/main.go
+++ b/cmd/flux/main.go
@@ -21,10 +21,11 @@ import (
 )
 
 var flags struct {
-	ExecScript bool
-	Trace      string
-	Format     string
-	Features   string
+	ExecScript        bool
+	Trace             string
+	Format            string
+	Features          string
+	EnableSuggestions bool
 }
 
 func runE(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
@@ -63,7 +64,7 @@ func runE(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	ctx = feature.Dependency{Flagger: flagger}.Inject(ctx)
 
 	if len(args) == 0 {
-		return replE(ctx)
+		return replE(ctx, flags.EnableSuggestions)
 	}
 	return executeE(ctx, script, flags.Format)
 }
@@ -115,6 +116,7 @@ func main() {
 		SilenceUsage: true,
 	}
 	fluxCmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&flags.ExecScript, "exec", "e", false, "Interpret file argument as a raw flux script")
+	fluxCmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&flags.EnableSuggestions, "enable-suggestions", "", false, "enable suggestions in the repl")
 	fluxCmd.Flags().StringVar(&flags.Trace, "trace", "", "Trace query execution")
 	fluxCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&flags.Format, "format", "", "cli", "Output format one of: cli,csv. Defaults to cli")
 	fluxCmd.Flag("trace").NoOptDefVal = "jaeger"
diff --git a/cmd/flux/repl.go b/cmd/flux/repl.go
index 51d5e9efee..77707fde14 100644
--- a/cmd/flux/repl.go
+++ b/cmd/flux/repl.go
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/influxdata/flux/repl"
 )
 
-func replE(ctx context.Context) error {
-	r := repl.New(ctx)
+func replE(ctx context.Context, enableSuggestions bool) error {
+	r := repl.New(ctx, enableSuggestions)
 	r.Run()
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/interpreter/interpreter_test.go b/interpreter/interpreter_test.go
index 5a8111ceda..dccfa6f3ad 100644
--- a/interpreter/interpreter_test.go
+++ b/interpreter/interpreter_test.go
@@ -658,7 +658,7 @@ func TestInterpreter_MultiPhaseInterpretation(t *testing.T) {
 			ctx, deps := dependency.Inject(context.Background(), dependenciestest.Default())
 			defer deps.Finish()
 
-			r := repl.New(ctx)
+			r := repl.New(ctx, false)
 			if _, err := r.Eval(prelude); err != nil {
 				t.Fatalf("unable to evaluate prelude: %s", err)
 			}
@@ -772,7 +772,7 @@ func TestInterpreter_MultipleEval(t *testing.T) {
 			ctx, deps := dependency.Inject(context.Background(), dependenciestest.Default())
 			defer deps.Finish()
 
-			r := repl.New(ctx)
+			r := repl.New(ctx, false)
 
 			if _, err := r.Eval(prelude); err != nil {
 				t.Fatalf("unable to evaluate prelude: %s", err)
diff --git a/repl/repl.go b/repl/repl.go
index 5faab010c8..11a5a711b9 100644
--- a/repl/repl.go
+++ b/repl/repl.go
@@ -37,9 +37,11 @@ type REPL struct {
 
 	cancelMu   sync.Mutex
 	cancelFunc context.CancelFunc
+
+	enableSuggestions bool
 }
 
-func New(ctx context.Context) *REPL {
+func New(ctx context.Context, enableSuggestions bool) *REPL {
 	scope := values.NewScope()
 	importer := runtime.StdLib()
 	for _, p := range runtime.PreludeList {
@@ -56,11 +58,12 @@ func New(ctx context.Context) *REPL {
 	}
 
 	return &REPL{
-		ctx:      ctx,
-		scope:    scope,
-		itrp:     interpreter.NewInterpreter(nil, &lang.ExecOptsConfig{}),
-		analyzer: analyzer,
-		importer: importer,
+		ctx:               ctx,
+		scope:             scope,
+		itrp:              interpreter.NewInterpreter(nil, &lang.ExecOptsConfig{}),
+		analyzer:          analyzer,
+		importer:          importer,
+		enableSuggestions: enableSuggestions,
 	}
 }
 
@@ -100,35 +103,39 @@ func (r *REPL) clearCancel() {
 }
 
 func (r *REPL) completer(d prompt.Document) []prompt.Suggest {
-	names := make([]string, 0, r.scope.Size())
-	r.scope.Range(func(k string, v values.Value) {
-		names = append(names, k)
-	})
-	sort.Strings(names)
-
-	s := make([]prompt.Suggest, 0, len(names))
-	for _, n := range names {
-		if n == "_" || !strings.HasPrefix(n, "_") {
-			s = append(s, prompt.Suggest{Text: n})
-		}
-	}
-	if d.Text == "" || strings.HasPrefix(d.Text, "@") {
-		root := "./" + strings.TrimPrefix(d.Text, "@")
-		fluxFiles, err := getFluxFiles(root)
-		if err == nil {
-			for _, fName := range fluxFiles {
-				s = append(s, prompt.Suggest{Text: "@" + fName})
+	if r.enableSuggestions {
+		names := make([]string, 0, r.scope.Size())
+		r.scope.Range(func(k string, v values.Value) {
+			names = append(names, k)
+		})
+		sort.Strings(names)
+
+		s := make([]prompt.Suggest, 0, len(names))
+		for _, n := range names {
+			if n == "_" || !strings.HasPrefix(n, "_") {
+				s = append(s, prompt.Suggest{Text: n})
 			}
 		}
-		dirs, err := getDirs(root)
-		if err == nil {
-			for _, fName := range dirs {
-				s = append(s, prompt.Suggest{Text: "@" + fName + string(os.PathSeparator)})
+		if d.Text == "" || strings.HasPrefix(d.Text, "@") {
+			root := "./" + strings.TrimPrefix(d.Text, "@")
+			fluxFiles, err := getFluxFiles(root)
+			if err == nil {
+				for _, fName := range fluxFiles {
+					s = append(s, prompt.Suggest{Text: "@" + fName})
+				}
+			}
+			dirs, err := getDirs(root)
+			if err == nil {
+				for _, fName := range dirs {
+					s = append(s, prompt.Suggest{Text: "@" + fName + string(os.PathSeparator)})
+				}
 			}
 		}
+
+		return prompt.FilterHasPrefix(s, d.GetWordBeforeCursor(), true)
 	}
+	return nil
 
-	return prompt.FilterHasPrefix(s, d.GetWordBeforeCursor(), true)
 }
 
 func (r *REPL) Input(t string) (*libflux.FluxError, error) {