diff --git a/yesod/Devel.hs b/yesod/Devel.hs
index 0ba574ec..69ba08a0 100644
--- a/yesod/Devel.hs
+++ b/yesod/Devel.hs
@@ -107,13 +107,14 @@ data DevelOpts = DevelOpts
       , failHook     :: Maybe String
       , buildDir     :: Maybe String
       , develPort    :: Int
+      , proxyTimeout :: Int
       } deriving (Show, Eq)
 
 getBuildDir :: DevelOpts -> String
 getBuildDir opts = fromMaybe "dist" (buildDir opts)
 
 defaultDevelOpts :: DevelOpts
-defaultDevelOpts = DevelOpts False False False (-1) Nothing Nothing Nothing 3000
+defaultDevelOpts = DevelOpts False False False (-1) Nothing Nothing Nothing 3000 10
 
 -- | Run a reverse proxy from port 3000 to 3001. If there is no response on
 -- 3001, give an appropriate message to the user.
@@ -127,7 +128,7 @@ reverseProxy opts iappPort = do
                     return $ Right $ ProxyDest "127.0.0.1" appPort)
                 def
                     { wpsOnExc = onExc
-                    , wpsTimeout = Just 10000000
+                    , wpsTimeout = Just (1000000 * proxyTimeout opts)
                     }
                 manager
             putStrLn "Reverse proxy stopped, but it shouldn't"
diff --git a/yesod/main.hs b/yesod/main.hs
index 49affcf1..9a8a482f 100755
--- a/yesod/main.hs
+++ b/yesod/main.hs
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ data Command = Init
                      , develIgnore       :: [String]
                      , develExtraArgs    :: [String]
                      , _develPort        :: Int
+                     , _proxyTimeout     :: Int
                      }
              | Test
              | AddHandler
@@ -95,7 +96,7 @@ main = do
     Configure               -> cabal ["configure"]
     Build es                -> touch' >> cabal ("build":es)
     Touch                   -> touch'
-    Devel da s f r b _ig es p -> devel (DevelOpts (optCabalPgm o == CabalDev) da (optVerbose o) r s f b p) es
+    Devel da s f r b _ig es p t -> devel (DevelOpts (optCabalPgm o == CabalDev) da (optVerbose o) r s f b p t) es
     Keter noRebuild         -> keter (cabalCommand o) noRebuild
     Version                 -> do putStrLn ("yesod-core version:" ++ yesodVersion)
                                   putStrLn ("yesod version:" ++ showVersion Paths_yesod.version)
@@ -152,6 +153,8 @@ develOptions = Devel <$> switch ( long "disable-api"  <> short 'd'
                      <*> extraCabalArgs
                      <*> option ( long "port" <> short 'p' <> value 3000 <> metavar "N"
                             <> help "Devel server listening port" )
+                     <*> option ( long "proxy-timeout" <> short 'x' <> value 10 <> metavar "N"
+                            <> help "Devel server timeout before returning 'not ready' message (in seconds)" )
 
 extraCabalArgs :: Parser [String]
 extraCabalArgs = many (strOption ( long "extra-cabal-arg" <> short 'e' <> metavar "ARG"