diff --git a/toolsrc/include/vcpkg/vcpkgcmdarguments.h b/toolsrc/include/vcpkg/vcpkgcmdarguments.h
index d84be9c22f..bce22b6f97 100644
--- a/toolsrc/include/vcpkg/vcpkgcmdarguments.h
+++ b/toolsrc/include/vcpkg/vcpkgcmdarguments.h
@@ -79,6 +79,8 @@ namespace vcpkg
         Optional<bool> sendmetrics = nullopt;
         Optional<bool> printmetrics = nullopt;
 
+        // feature flags
+        Optional<bool> featurepackages = nullopt;
         std::string command;
         std::vector<std::string> command_arguments;
 
diff --git a/toolsrc/src/vcpkg.cpp b/toolsrc/src/vcpkg.cpp
index adb32c7235..ffda7ede91 100644
--- a/toolsrc/src/vcpkg.cpp
+++ b/toolsrc/src/vcpkg.cpp
@@ -265,6 +265,7 @@ int main(const int argc, const char* const* const argv)
 
     const VcpkgCmdArguments args = VcpkgCmdArguments::create_from_command_line(argc, argv);
 
+    if (const auto p = args.featurepackages.get()) GlobalState::feature_packages = *p;
     if (const auto p = args.printmetrics.get()) Metrics::g_metrics.lock()->set_print_metrics(*p);
     if (const auto p = args.sendmetrics.get()) Metrics::g_metrics.lock()->set_send_metrics(*p);
     if (const auto p = args.debug.get()) GlobalState::debugging = *p;
diff --git a/toolsrc/src/vcpkg/vcpkgcmdarguments.cpp b/toolsrc/src/vcpkg/vcpkgcmdarguments.cpp
index 84ad17fe31..18acf8e12e 100644
--- a/toolsrc/src/vcpkg/vcpkgcmdarguments.cpp
+++ b/toolsrc/src/vcpkg/vcpkgcmdarguments.cpp
@@ -126,12 +126,13 @@ namespace vcpkg
                 }
                 if (arg == "--featurepackages")
                 {
-                    GlobalState::feature_packages = true;
+                    parse_switch(true, "featurepackages", args.featurepackages);
                     continue;
                 }
                 if (arg == "--no-featurepackages")
                 {
-                    GlobalState::feature_packages = false;
+                    parse_switch(false, "featurepackages", args.featurepackages);
+                    continue;
                     continue;
                 }