diff --git a/src/System.CommandLine.Tests/EnvironmentVariableDirectiveTests.cs b/src/System.CommandLine.Tests/EnvironmentVariableDirectiveTests.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1464ab3511
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/System.CommandLine.Tests/EnvironmentVariableDirectiveTests.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,185 @@
+using FluentAssertions;
+
+using System.CommandLine.Builder;
+using System.CommandLine.Invocation;
+using System.CommandLine.Parsing;
+using System.Linq;
+using System.Threading.Tasks;
+
+using Xunit;
+
+namespace System.CommandLine.Tests
+{
+    public class EnvironmentVariableDirectiveTests
+    {
+        private static readonly Random randomizer = new Random(Seed: 456476756);
+        private readonly string test_variable = $"TEST_ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLE{randomizer.Next()}";
+
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task Sets_environment_variable_to_value()
+        {
+            bool asserted = false;
+            string variable = test_variable;
+            const string value = "This is a test";
+            var rootCommand = new RootCommand
+            {
+                Handler = CommandHandler.Create(() =>
+                {
+                    asserted = true;
+                    Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable(variable).Should().Be(value);
+                })
+            };
+
+            var parser = new CommandLineBuilder(rootCommand)
+                .UseEnvironmentVariableDirective()
+                .Build();
+
+            await parser.InvokeAsync(new[] { $"[env:{variable}={value}]" });
+
+            asserted.Should().BeTrue();
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task Trims_environment_variable_name()
+        {
+            bool asserted = false;
+            string variable = test_variable;
+            const string value = "This is a test";
+            var rootCommand = new RootCommand
+            {
+                Handler = CommandHandler.Create(() =>
+                {
+                    asserted = true;
+                    Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable(variable).Should().Be(value);
+                })
+            };
+
+            var parser = new CommandLineBuilder(rootCommand)
+                .UseEnvironmentVariableDirective()
+                .Build();
+
+            await parser.InvokeAsync(new[] { $"[env:     {variable}    ={value}]" });
+
+            asserted.Should().BeTrue();
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task Trims_environment_variable_value()
+        {
+            bool asserted = false;
+            string variable = test_variable;
+            const string value = "This is a test";
+            var rootCommand = new RootCommand
+            {
+                Handler = CommandHandler.Create(() =>
+                {
+                    asserted = true;
+                    Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable(variable).Should().Be(value);
+                })
+            };
+
+            var parser = new CommandLineBuilder(rootCommand)
+                .UseEnvironmentVariableDirective()
+                .Build();
+
+            await parser.InvokeAsync(new[] { $"[env:{variable}=    {value}     ]" });
+
+            asserted.Should().BeTrue();
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task Sets_environment_variable_value_containing_equals_sign()
+        {
+            bool asserted = false;
+            string variable = test_variable;
+            const string value = "This is = a test containing equals";
+            var rootCommand = new RootCommand
+            {
+                Handler = CommandHandler.Create(() =>
+                {
+                    asserted = true;
+                    Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable(variable).Should().Be(value);
+                })
+            };
+
+            var parser = new CommandLineBuilder(rootCommand)
+                .UseEnvironmentVariableDirective()
+                .Build();
+
+            await parser.InvokeAsync(new[] { $"[env:{variable}={value}]" });
+
+            asserted.Should().BeTrue();
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task Ignores_environment_directive_without_equals_sign()
+        {
+            bool asserted = false;
+            string variable = test_variable;
+            var rootCommand = new RootCommand
+            {
+                Handler = CommandHandler.Create(() =>
+                {
+                    asserted = true;
+                    Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable(variable).Should().BeNull();
+                })
+            };
+
+            var parser = new CommandLineBuilder(rootCommand)
+                .UseEnvironmentVariableDirective()
+                .Build();
+
+            await parser.InvokeAsync(new[] { $"[env:{variable}]" });
+
+            asserted.Should().BeTrue();
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public static async Task Ignores_environment_directive_with_empty_variable_name()
+        {
+            bool asserted = false;
+            string value = $"This is a test, random: {randomizer.Next()}";
+            var rootCommand = new RootCommand
+            {
+                Handler = CommandHandler.Create(() =>
+                {
+                    asserted = true;
+                    var env = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariables();
+                    env.Values.Cast<string>().Should().NotContain(value);
+                })
+            };
+
+            var parser = new CommandLineBuilder(rootCommand)
+                .UseEnvironmentVariableDirective()
+                .Build();
+
+            await parser.InvokeAsync(new[] { $"[env:={value}]" });
+
+            asserted.Should().BeTrue();
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public static async Task Ignores_environment_directive_with_whitespace_variable_name()
+        {
+            bool asserted = false;
+            string value = $"This is a test, random: {randomizer.Next()}";
+            var rootCommand = new RootCommand
+            {
+                Handler = CommandHandler.Create(() =>
+                {
+                    asserted = true;
+                    var env = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariables();
+                    env.Values.Cast<string>().Should().NotContain(value);
+                })
+            };
+
+            var parser = new CommandLineBuilder(rootCommand)
+                .UseEnvironmentVariableDirective()
+                .Build();
+
+            await parser.InvokeAsync(new[] { $"[env:    ={value}]" });
+
+            asserted.Should().BeTrue();
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/System.CommandLine/Builder/CommandLineBuilderExtensions.cs b/src/System.CommandLine/Builder/CommandLineBuilderExtensions.cs
index 60a10ae445..a6946c8703 100644
--- a/src/System.CommandLine/Builder/CommandLineBuilderExtensions.cs
+++ b/src/System.CommandLine/Builder/CommandLineBuilderExtensions.cs
@@ -228,11 +228,38 @@ public static CommandLineBuilder UseDebugDirective(
             return builder;
         }
 
+        public static CommandLineBuilder UseEnvironmentVariableDirective(
+            this CommandLineBuilder builder)
+        {
+            builder.AddMiddleware((context, next) =>
+            {
+                if (context.ParseResult.Directives.TryGetValues("env", out var directives))
+                {
+                    foreach (var envDirective in directives)
+                    {
+                        var components = envDirective.Split(new[] { '=' }, count: 2);
+                        var variable = components.Length > 0 ? components[0].Trim() : string.Empty;
+                        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(variable) || components.Length < 2)
+                        {
+                            continue;
+                        }
+                        var value = components[1].Trim();
+                        SetEnvironmentVariable(variable, value);
+                    }
+                }
+
+                return next(context);
+            }, MiddlewareOrderInternal.EnvironmentVariableDirective);
+            
+            return builder;
+        }
+
         public static CommandLineBuilder UseDefaults(this CommandLineBuilder builder)
         {
             return builder
                    .UseVersionOption()
                    .UseHelp()
+                   .UseEnvironmentVariableDirective()
                    .UseParseDirective()
                    .UseDebugDirective()
                    .UseSuggestDirective()
diff --git a/src/System.CommandLine/Invocation/MiddlewareOrder.cs b/src/System.CommandLine/Invocation/MiddlewareOrder.cs
index b233e8042e..da921a6fad 100644
--- a/src/System.CommandLine/Invocation/MiddlewareOrder.cs
+++ b/src/System.CommandLine/Invocation/MiddlewareOrder.cs
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ internal enum MiddlewareOrderInternal
     {
         Startup = -4000,
         ExceptionHandler = -3000,
+        EnvironmentVariableDirective = -2600,
         ConfigureConsole = -2500,
         RegisterWithDotnetSuggest = -2400,
         DebugDirective = -2300,