diff --git a/aider/coders/base_coder.py b/aider/coders/base_coder.py
index 7e228dd5f..d377979be 100755
--- a/aider/coders/base_coder.py
+++ b/aider/coders/base_coder.py
@@ -1207,6 +1207,7 @@ class Coder:
             return
 
         delay = 5 * 60 - 5
+        delay = float(os.environ.get("AIDER_CACHE_KEEPALIVE_DELAY", delay))
         self.next_cache_warm = time.time() + delay
         self.warming_pings_left = self.num_cache_warming_pings
         self.cache_warming_chunks = chunks
diff --git a/aider/main.py b/aider/main.py
index 398737079..e44961258 100644
--- a/aider/main.py
+++ b/aider/main.py
@@ -1060,7 +1060,7 @@ def main(argv=None, input=None, output=None, force_git_root=None, return_coder=F
 
     while True:
         try:
-            coder.ok_to_warm_cache = True
+            coder.ok_to_warm_cache = bool(args.cache_keepalive_pings)
             coder.run()
             analytics.event("exit", reason="Completed main CLI coder.run")
             return