diff --git a/cli/server.go b/cli/server.go
index 02af6a822f112..2fbc645edb1b9 100644
--- a/cli/server.go
+++ b/cli/server.go
@@ -473,8 +473,12 @@ func server() *cobra.Command {
 	cliflag.StringVarP(root.Flags(), &promAddress, "prometheus-address", "", "CODER_PROMETHEUS_ADDRESS", "127.0.0.1:2112", "The address to serve prometheus metrics.")
 	cliflag.BoolVarP(root.Flags(), &pprofEnabled, "pprof-enable", "", "CODER_PPROF_ENABLE", false, "Enable serving pprof metrics on the address defined by --pprof-address.")
 	cliflag.StringVarP(root.Flags(), &pprofAddress, "pprof-address", "", "CODER_PPROF_ADDRESS", "127.0.0.1:6060", "The address to serve pprof.")
-	// systemd uses the CACHE_DIRECTORY environment variable!
-	cliflag.StringVarP(root.Flags(), &cacheDir, "cache-dir", "", "CACHE_DIRECTORY", filepath.Join(os.TempDir(), "coder-cache"), "Specifies a directory to cache binaries for provision operations.")
+	defaultCacheDir := filepath.Join(os.TempDir(), "coder-cache")
+	if dir := os.Getenv("CACHE_DIRECTORY"); dir != "" {
+		// For compatibility with systemd.
+		defaultCacheDir = dir
+	}
+	cliflag.StringVarP(root.Flags(), &cacheDir, "cache-dir", "", "CODER_CACHE_DIRECTORY", defaultCacheDir, "Specifies a directory to cache binaries for provision operations. If unspecified and $CACHE_DIRECTORY is set, it will be used for compatibility with systemd.")
 	cliflag.BoolVarP(root.Flags(), &dev, "dev", "", "CODER_DEV_MODE", false, "Serve Coder in dev mode for tinkering")
 	cliflag.StringVarP(root.Flags(), &devUserEmail, "dev-admin-email", "", "CODER_DEV_ADMIN_EMAIL", "admin@coder.com", "Specifies the admin email to be used in dev mode (--dev)")
 	cliflag.StringVarP(root.Flags(), &devUserPassword, "dev-admin-password", "", "CODER_DEV_ADMIN_PASSWORD", "", "Specifies the admin password to be used in dev mode (--dev) instead of a randomly generated one")