diff --git a/backend/danswer/configs/app_configs.py b/backend/danswer/configs/app_configs.py
index 2c54e3444..c8b652fcb 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/configs/app_configs.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/configs/app_configs.py
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ NUM_RERANKED_RESULTS = 15
 NUM_GENERATIVE_AI_INPUT_DOCS = 5
 # 1 edit per 2 characters, currently unused due to fuzzy match being too slow
 QUOTE_ALLOWED_ERROR_PERCENT = 0.05
-QA_TIMEOUT = 10  # 10 seconds
+QA_TIMEOUT = int(os.environ.get("QA_TIMEOUT", "10"))  # 10 seconds
 # Include additional document/chunk metadata in prompt to GenerativeAI
 INCLUDE_METADATA = False
 
diff --git a/deployment/docker_compose/docker-compose.dev.yml b/deployment/docker_compose/docker-compose.dev.yml
index 3b6663ddc..293e7f404 100644
--- a/deployment/docker_compose/docker-compose.dev.yml
+++ b/deployment/docker_compose/docker-compose.dev.yml
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ services:
       - TYPESENSE_API_KEY=${TYPESENSE_API_KEY:-typesense_api_key}
       - LOG_LEVEL=${LOG_LEVEL:-info}
       - DISABLE_AUTH=${DISABLE_AUTH:-True}
+      - QA_TIMEOUT=${QA_TIMEOUT:-}
       - OAUTH_TYPE=${OAUTH_TYPE:-google}
       - OPENID_CONFIG_URL=${OPENID_CONFIG_URL:-}
       - GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID=${GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID:-}