diff --git a/dockerfiles/tasks.py b/dockerfiles/tasks.py
index 8926135..a8c291e 100644
--- a/dockerfiles/tasks.py
+++ b/dockerfiles/tasks.py
@@ -47,8 +47,9 @@ def down(c, volumes=False):
                    '"17b5-139-47-118-243.ngrok.io"',
     'log-level': 'Logging level for the Django application (default: INFO)',
     'django-debug': 'Sets the DEBUG Django setting (default: True)',
+    'detach': 'Start containers in background (default: False)',
 })
-def up(c, search=True, init=False, reload=True, webpack=False, ext_theme=False, scale_build=1, http_domain="", django_debug=True, log_level='INFO'):
+def up(c, search=True, init=False, reload=True, webpack=False, ext_theme=False, scale_build=1, http_domain="", django_debug=True, log_level='INFO', detach=False):
     """Start all the docker containers for a Read the Docs instance"""
     cmd = []
 
@@ -70,8 +71,7 @@ def up(c, search=True, init=False, reload=True, webpack=False, ext_theme=False,
         cmd.insert(0, 'RTD_EXT_THEME_DEV_SERVER_ENABLED=t')
     if ext_theme:
         cmd.insert(0, 'RTD_EXT_THEME_ENABLED=t')
-    if django_debug:
-        cmd.insert(0, 'RTD_DJANGO_DEBUG=t')
+    cmd.insert(0, 'RTD_DJANGO_DEBUG=t' if django_debug else 'RTD_DJANGO_DEBUG=')
     if http_domain:
         cmd.insert(0, f'RTD_PRODUCTION_DOMAIN={http_domain}')
         cmd.insert(0, f'NGINX_WEB_SERVER_NAME={http_domain}')
@@ -79,6 +79,9 @@ def up(c, search=True, init=False, reload=True, webpack=False, ext_theme=False,
 
     cmd.append('up')
 
+    if detach:
+        cmd.append('--detach')
+
     cmd.append(f'--scale build={scale_build}')
 
     c.run(' '.join(cmd), pty=True)