diff --git a/cli-plugins/plugin/plugin.go b/cli-plugins/plugin/plugin.go
index 934baed884..dfcd466ebd 100644
--- a/cli-plugins/plugin/plugin.go
+++ b/cli-plugins/plugin/plugin.go
@@ -31,7 +31,11 @@ func runPlugin(dockerCli *command.DockerCli, plugin *cobra.Command, meta manager
 	PersistentPreRunE = func(_ *cobra.Command, _ []string) error {
 		var err error
 		persistentPreRunOnce.Do(func() {
-			err = tcmd.Initialize(withPluginClientConn(plugin.Name()))
+			var opts []command.InitializeOpt
+			if os.Getenv("DOCKER_CLI_PLUGIN_USE_DIAL_STDIO") != "" {
+				opts = append(opts, withPluginClientConn(plugin.Name()))
+			}
+			err = tcmd.Initialize(opts...)
 		})
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/e2e/cli-plugins/dial_test.go b/e2e/cli-plugins/dial_test.go
index a01feb0345..f483b4e578 100644
--- a/e2e/cli-plugins/dial_test.go
+++ b/e2e/cli-plugins/dial_test.go
@@ -11,7 +11,11 @@ import (
 	"gotest.tools/icmd"
 )
 
-func TestDialStdio(t *testing.T) {
+func TestCLIPluginDialStdio(t *testing.T) {
+	if os.Getenv("DOCKER_CLI_PLUGIN_USE_DIAL_STDIO") == "" {
+		t.Skip("skipping plugin dial-stdio test since DOCKER_CLI_PLUGIN_USE_DIAL_STDIO is not set")
+	}
+
 	// Run the helloworld plugin forcing /bin/true as the `system
 	// dial-stdio` target. It should be passed all arguments from
 	// before the `helloworld` arg, but not the --who=foo which