diff --git a/docs/build.gradle b/docs/build.gradle
index 6ae649fe316..6f9ba9a2c0c 100644
--- a/docs/build.gradle
+++ b/docs/build.gradle
@@ -47,11 +47,10 @@ testClusters.integTest {
     setting 'indices.lifecycle.history_index_enabled', 'false'
     if (BuildParams.isSnapshotBuild() == false) {
       systemProperty 'es.autoscaling_feature_flag_registered', 'true'
+      systemProperty 'es.eql_feature_flag_registered', 'true'
     }
     setting 'xpack.autoscaling.enabled', 'true'
-    if (BuildParams.isSnapshotBuild()) {
-      setting 'xpack.eql.enabled', 'true'
-    }
+    setting 'xpack.eql.enabled', 'true'
   }
 
   // enable regexes in painless so our tests don't complain about example snippets that use them
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/eql/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/eql/plugin/EqlPlugin.java b/x-pack/plugin/eql/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/eql/plugin/EqlPlugin.java
index 375789761d7..c6434ab4acf 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/eql/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/eql/plugin/EqlPlugin.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/eql/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/eql/plugin/EqlPlugin.java
@@ -45,6 +45,24 @@ import java.util.function.Supplier;
 
 public class EqlPlugin extends Plugin implements ActionPlugin {
 
+    private static final boolean EQL_FEATURE_FLAG_REGISTERED;
+
+    static {
+        final String property = System.getProperty("es.eql_feature_flag_registered");
+        if (Build.CURRENT.isSnapshot() && property != null) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("es.eql_feature_flag_registered is only supported in non-snapshot builds");
+        }
+        if ("true".equals(property)) {
+            EQL_FEATURE_FLAG_REGISTERED = true;
+        } else if ("false".equals(property) || property == null) {
+            EQL_FEATURE_FLAG_REGISTERED = false;
+        } else {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                "expected es.eql_feature_flag_registered to be unset or [true|false] but was [" + property + "]"
+            );
+        }
+    }
+
     public static final Setting<Boolean> EQL_ENABLED_SETTING = Setting.boolSetting(
         "xpack.eql.enabled",
         false,
@@ -87,7 +105,7 @@ public class EqlPlugin extends Plugin implements ActionPlugin {
      */
     @Override
     public List<Setting<?>> getSettings() {
-        if (isSnapshot()) {
+        if (isSnapshot() || EQL_FEATURE_FLAG_REGISTERED) {
             return Collections.singletonList(EQL_ENABLED_SETTING);
         } else {
             return Collections.emptyList();