diff --git a/ChangeLog.md b/ChangeLog.md
--- a/ChangeLog.md
+++ b/ChangeLog.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+## 1.4.5
+
+* add a switch to yesod to skip deploying a .keter with copy-to [#952](https://github.com/yesodweb/yesod/issues/952)
+
 ## 1.4.4
 
 * Add and process Keter option 'extraFiles' [#947](https://github.com/yesodweb/yesod/pull/947)
diff --git a/Keter.hs b/Keter.hs
--- a/Keter.hs
+++ b/Keter.hs
@@ -27,8 +27,9 @@
 
 keter :: String -- ^ cabal command
       -> Bool -- ^ no build?
+      -> Bool -- ^ no copy to?
       -> IO ()
-keter cabal noBuild = do
+keter cabal noBuild noCopyTo = do
     ketercfg <- keterConfig
     mvalue <- decodeFile ketercfg
     value <-
@@ -78,7 +79,7 @@
     let fp = T.unpack project ++ ".keter"
     L.writeFile fp $ compress $ Tar.write archive
 
-    case Map.lookup "copy-to" value of
+    unless noCopyTo $ case Map.lookup "copy-to" value of
         Just (String s) ->
             case parseMaybe (.: "copy-to-port") value of
                 Just i -> run "scp" ["-P" ++ show (i :: Int), fp, T.unpack s]
diff --git a/main.hs b/main.hs
--- a/main.hs
+++ b/main.hs
@@ -60,7 +60,10 @@
                      }
              | Test
              | AddHandler
-             | Keter { _keterNoRebuild :: Bool }
+             | Keter
+                    { _keterNoRebuild :: Bool
+                    , _keterNoCopyTo  :: Bool
+                    }
              | Version
   deriving (Show, Eq)
 
@@ -96,7 +99,7 @@
     Configure       -> cabal ["configure"]
     Build es        -> touch' >> cabal ("build":es)
     Touch           -> touch'
-    Keter noRebuild -> keter (cabalCommand o) noRebuild
+    Keter{..}       -> keter (cabalCommand o) _keterNoRebuild _keterNoCopyTo
     Version         -> putStrLn ("yesod-bin version: " ++ showVersion Paths_yesod_bin.version)
     AddHandler      -> addHandler
     Test            -> cabalTest cabal
@@ -144,7 +147,9 @@
                       )
 
 keterOptions :: Parser Command
-keterOptions = Keter <$> switch ( long "nobuild" <> short 'n' <> help "Skip rebuilding" )
+keterOptions = Keter
+    <$> switch ( long "nobuild" <> short 'n' <> help "Skip rebuilding" )
+    <*> switch ( long "nocopyto" <> help "Ignore copy-to directive in keter config file" )
 
 defaultRescan :: Int
 defaultRescan = 10
diff --git a/yesod-bin.cabal b/yesod-bin.cabal
--- a/yesod-bin.cabal
+++ b/yesod-bin.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:            yesod-bin
-version:         1.4.4
+version:         1.4.5
 license:         MIT
 license-file:    LICENSE
 author:          Michael Snoyman <michael@snoyman.com>