diff --git a/HISTORY.rst b/HISTORY.rst
index d84c84da..4d78e58d 100644
--- a/HISTORY.rst
+++ b/HISTORY.rst
@@ -8,6 +8,11 @@ PlatformIO Core 5
 
 **A professional collaborative platform for embedded development**
 
+5.2.2 (2021-??-??)
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+- Override debugging firmware loading mode using ``--load-mode`` option for `pio debug <https://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/core/userguide/cmd_debug.html>`__ command
+
 5.2.1 (2021-10-11)
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/docs b/docs
index 8a613430..0a751d47 160000
--- a/docs
+++ b/docs
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 8a613430957704dfc2e4fc30337020a0a80cfba8
+Subproject commit 0a751d47b2f41a7888d43e5e390f6201279c34e5
diff --git a/platformio/commands/debug.py b/platformio/commands/debug.py
index d0cbf233..290144b8 100644
--- a/platformio/commands/debug.py
+++ b/platformio/commands/debug.py
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ from platformio.debug.process.gdb import GDBClientProcess
 from platformio.project.config import ProjectConfig
 from platformio.project.exception import ProjectEnvsNotAvailableError
 from platformio.project.helpers import is_platformio_project
+from platformio.project.options import ProjectOptions
 
 
 @click.command(
@@ -54,11 +55,21 @@ from platformio.project.helpers import is_platformio_project
     ),
 )
 @click.option("--environment", "-e", metavar="<environment>")
+@click.option("--load-mode", type=ProjectOptions["env.debug_load_mode"].type)
 @click.option("--verbose", "-v", is_flag=True)
 @click.option("--interface", type=click.Choice(["gdb"]))
 @click.argument("__unprocessed", nargs=-1, type=click.UNPROCESSED)
 @click.pass_context
-def cli(ctx, project_dir, project_conf, environment, verbose, interface, __unprocessed):
+def cli(
+    ctx,
+    project_dir,
+    project_conf,
+    environment,
+    load_mode,
+    verbose,
+    interface,
+    __unprocessed,
+):
     app.set_session_var("custom_project_conf", project_conf)
 
     # use env variables from Eclipse or CLion
@@ -104,7 +115,7 @@ def cli(ctx, project_dir, project_conf, environment, verbose, interface, __unpro
 
     rebuild_prog = False
     preload = debug_config.load_cmds == ["preload"]
-    load_mode = debug_config.load_mode
+    load_mode = load_mode or debug_config.load_mode
     if load_mode == "always":
         rebuild_prog = preload or not helpers.has_debug_symbols(
             debug_config.program_path
diff --git a/platformio/ide/tpls/vscode/.vscode/launch.json.tpl b/platformio/ide/tpls/vscode/.vscode/launch.json.tpl
index e05c7237..eb654808 100644
--- a/platformio/ide/tpls/vscode/.vscode/launch.json.tpl
+++ b/platformio/ide/tpls/vscode/.vscode/launch.json.tpl
@@ -30,7 +30,10 @@
 %    "type": "PlatformIO",
 %    "task": ("Pre-Debug (%s)" % env_name) if len(config.envs()) > 1 else "Pre-Debug",
 %  }
-%  return [debug, predebug]
+%  noloading = predebug.copy()
+%  noloading["name"] = "PIO Debug (without uploading)"
+%  noloading["loadMode"] = "manual"
+%  return [debug, predebug, noloading]
 % end
 %
 % def _remove_comments(lines):