diff --git a/tests/README.md b/tests/README.md
index c3a3aca9e65b..c89b8814a7e2 100644
--- a/tests/README.md
+++ b/tests/README.md
@@ -393,3 +393,8 @@ uvm.ssh.run("ls")
 snap = uvm.snapshot_full()
 uvm.help.tmux_ssh()
 ```
+
+It supports a number of options, you can check with `devtool sandbox --
+--help`.
+
+## How to run tests outside of Docker
diff --git a/tools/sandbox.py b/tools/sandbox.py
index 4a50d6d24c07..3d3a43f0d06c 100755
--- a/tools/sandbox.py
+++ b/tools/sandbox.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 
 import argparse
 import re
+from pathlib import Path
 
 from framework.artifacts import disks, kernels
 from framework.microvm import MicroVMFactory
@@ -50,12 +51,19 @@ def parse_byte_size(param):
     default=128 * 2**20,  # 128MB
 )
 parser.add_argument("--rootfs-size", type=parse_byte_size, default=1 * 2**30)  # 1GB
+parser.add_argument("--binary-dir", help="Path to the firecracker binaries")
 args = parser.parse_args()
 print(args)
 
+bins = None
+if args.binary_dir:
+    binary_dir = Path(args.binary_dir).resolve()
+    bins = binary_dir / "firecracker", binary_dir / "jailer"
+else:
+    bins = get_firecracker_binaries()
 
 print("This step may take a while to compile Firecracker ...")
-vmfcty = MicroVMFactory("/srv", *get_firecracker_binaries())
+vmfcty = MicroVMFactory("/srv", *bins)
 uvm = vmfcty.build(args.kernel, args.rootfs)
 uvm.help.enable_console()
 uvm.help.resize_disk(uvm.rootfs_file, args.rootfs_size)