diff --git a/backend/test/cli_test.go b/backend/test/cli_test.go
index 56f3aab4443..ac4d8528615 100644
--- a/backend/test/cli_test.go
+++ b/backend/test/cli_test.go
@@ -16,22 +16,13 @@ import (
 const (
 	defaultPageSize    = int32(10)
 	myUploadedPipeline = "my-uploaded-pipeline"
-	// If true, run as a unit test using a fake client.
-	// If false, run as an integration test calling the service.
-	// This is useful to test locally before running an e2e test (which takes a while).
-	// IMPORTANT: This should always be set to FALSE in the checked-in code.
-	runAsUnitTest = false
 )
 
 func GetRealRootCommand() (*cmd.RootCommand, cmd.ClientFactoryInterface) {
-	if runAsUnitTest {
-		return cmd.GetFakeRootCommand()
-	} else {
-		clientFactory := cmd.NewClientFactoryWithByteBuffer()
-		rootCmd := cmd.NewRootCmd(clientFactory)
-		rootCmd = cmd.CreateSubCommands(rootCmd, defaultPageSize)
-		return rootCmd, clientFactory
-	}
+	clientFactory := cmd.NewClientFactoryWithByteBuffer()
+	rootCmd := cmd.NewRootCmd(clientFactory)
+	rootCmd = cmd.CreateSubCommands(rootCmd, defaultPageSize)
+	return rootCmd, clientFactory
 }
 
 type CLIIntegrationTest struct {
@@ -41,15 +32,18 @@ type CLIIntegrationTest struct {
 
 // Check the cluster namespace has Kubeflow pipelines installed and ready.
 func (c *CLIIntegrationTest) SetupTest() {
+	if !*runIntegrationTests {
+		c.T().SkipNow()
+		return
+	}
+
 	c.namespace = *namespace
 
-	if !runAsUnitTest {
-		// Wait for the system to be ready.
-		err := waitForReady(c.namespace, *initializeTimeout)
-		if err != nil {
-			glog.Exitf("Cluster namespace '%s' is still not ready after timeout. Error: %s", c.namespace,
-				err.Error())
-		}
+	// Wait for the system to be ready.
+	err := waitForReady(c.namespace, *initializeTimeout)
+	if err != nil {
+		glog.Exitf("Cluster namespace '%s' is still not ready after timeout. Error: %s", c.namespace,
+			err.Error())
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/backend/test/experiment_api_test.go b/backend/test/experiment_api_test.go
index d42276d3085..c32b2b24930 100644
--- a/backend/test/experiment_api_test.go
+++ b/backend/test/experiment_api_test.go
@@ -22,6 +22,11 @@ type ExperimentApiTest struct {
 
 // Check the namespace have ML job installed and ready
 func (s *ExperimentApiTest) SetupTest() {
+	if !*runIntegrationTests {
+		s.T().SkipNow()
+		return
+	}
+
 	err := waitForReady(*namespace, *initializeTimeout)
 	if err != nil {
 		glog.Exitf("Failed to initialize test. Error: %s", err.Error())
diff --git a/backend/test/job_api_test.go b/backend/test/job_api_test.go
index af6cc0a0c59..22f701f7463 100644
--- a/backend/test/job_api_test.go
+++ b/backend/test/job_api_test.go
@@ -34,6 +34,11 @@ type JobApiTestSuite struct {
 
 // Check the namespace have ML pipeline installed and ready
 func (s *JobApiTestSuite) SetupTest() {
+	if !*runIntegrationTests {
+		s.T().SkipNow()
+		return
+	}
+
 	err := waitForReady(*namespace, *initializeTimeout)
 	if err != nil {
 		glog.Exitf("Failed to initialize test. Error: %s", err.Error())
diff --git a/backend/test/pipeline_api_test.go b/backend/test/pipeline_api_test.go
index d62b19a1624..33c21298f1d 100644
--- a/backend/test/pipeline_api_test.go
+++ b/backend/test/pipeline_api_test.go
@@ -32,6 +32,11 @@ type PipelineApiTest struct {
 
 // Check the namespace have ML job installed and ready
 func (s *PipelineApiTest) SetupTest() {
+	if !*runIntegrationTests {
+		s.T().SkipNow()
+		return
+	}
+
 	err := waitForReady(*namespace, *initializeTimeout)
 	if err != nil {
 		glog.Exitf("Failed to initialize test. Error: %s", err.Error())
diff --git a/backend/test/run_api_test.go b/backend/test/run_api_test.go
index 7284457abff..3330718aca9 100644
--- a/backend/test/run_api_test.go
+++ b/backend/test/run_api_test.go
@@ -28,6 +28,11 @@ type RunApiTestSuite struct {
 
 // Check the namespace have ML pipeline installed and ready
 func (s *RunApiTestSuite) SetupTest() {
+	if !*runIntegrationTests {
+		s.T().SkipNow()
+		return
+	}
+
 	err := waitForReady(*namespace, *initializeTimeout)
 	if err != nil {
 		glog.Exitf("Failed to initialize test. Error: %s", err.Error())
diff --git a/backend/test/test_utils.go b/backend/test/test_utils.go
index 3ed97159361..1e25e21154a 100644
--- a/backend/test/test_utils.go
+++ b/backend/test/test_utils.go
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ import (
 
 var namespace = flag.String("namespace", "kubeflow", "The namespace ml pipeline deployed to")
 var initializeTimeout = flag.Duration("initializeTimeout", 2*time.Minute, "Duration to wait for test initialization")
+var runIntegrationTests = flag.Bool("runIntegrationTests", false, "Whether to also run integration tests that call the service")
 
 func waitForReady(namespace string, initializeTimeout time.Duration) error {
 	var operation = func() error {
diff --git a/test/api-integration-test/run_test.sh b/test/api-integration-test/run_test.sh
index ca0bcc1d0f4..74682fa28b7 100755
--- a/test/api-integration-test/run_test.sh
+++ b/test/api-integration-test/run_test.sh
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ TEST_DIR=backend/test
 cd "${BASE_DIR}/${TEST_DIR}"
 
 echo "Run integration test..."
-TEST_RESULT=`go test -v ./... -namespace ${NAMESPACE} 2>&1`
+TEST_RESULT=`go test -v ./... -namespace ${NAMESPACE} -args -runIntegrationTests=true 2>&1`
 TEST_EXIT_CODE=$?
 
 # Log the test result
diff --git a/test/backend-unit-test/run_test.sh b/test/backend-unit-test/run_test.sh
index e83b43e7edd..9e8b8edc60a 100755
--- a/test/backend-unit-test/run_test.sh
+++ b/test/backend-unit-test/run_test.sh
@@ -62,4 +62,4 @@ printf '%s\n' "$TEST_RESULT" | go-junit-report > ${JUNIT_TEST_RESULT}
 echo "Copy test result to GCS ${RESULTS_GCS_DIR}/${JUNIT_TEST_RESULT}"
 gsutil cp ${JUNIT_TEST_RESULT} ${RESULTS_GCS_DIR}/${JUNIT_TEST_RESULT}
 
-exit $TEST_EXIT_CODE
\ No newline at end of file
+exit $TEST_EXIT_CODE