diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index c198a68fbb..66924edea8 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -6,9 +6,13 @@ require 'rubygems'
 # Require pry when we're not inside Travis-CI
 require 'pry' unless ENV['CI']
 
-require 'knapsack'
-Knapsack.tracker.config({enable_time_offset_warning: false}) unless ENV['CI']
-Knapsack::Adapters::RSpecAdapter.bind
+# This spec_helper.rb is being used by the custom engines in engines/. The engines are not set up to
+# use Knapsack, and this provides the option to disable it when running the tests in CI services.
+unless ENV['DISABLE_KNAPSACK']
+  require 'knapsack'
+  Knapsack.tracker.config({enable_time_offset_warning: false}) unless ENV['CI']
+  Knapsack::Adapters::RSpecAdapter.bind
+end
 
 ENV["RAILS_ENV"] ||= 'test'
 require_relative "../config/environment"