diff --git a/cmd/config/internal/commands/run-fns.go b/cmd/config/internal/commands/run-fns.go
index bc536c837..e5b588fed 100644
--- a/cmd/config/internal/commands/run-fns.go
+++ b/cmd/config/internal/commands/run-fns.go
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ func GetRunFnRunner(name string) *RunFnRunner {
 	r.Command = c
 	r.Command.Flags().BoolVar(
 		&r.DryRun, "dry-run", false, "print results to stdout")
+	r.Command.Flags().BoolVar(
+		&r.GlobalScope, "global-scope", false, "set global scope for functions.")
 	r.Command.Flags().StringSliceVar(
 		&r.FnPaths, "fn-path", []string{},
 		"directories containing functions without configuration")
@@ -44,11 +46,12 @@ type RunFnRunner struct {
 	IncludeSubpackages bool
 	Command            *cobra.Command
 	DryRun             bool
+	GlobalScope        bool
 	FnPaths            []string
 }
 
 func (r *RunFnRunner) runE(c *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
-	rec := runfn.RunFns{Path: args[0], FunctionPaths: r.FnPaths}
+	rec := runfn.RunFns{Path: args[0], FunctionPaths: r.FnPaths, GlobalScope: r.GlobalScope}
 	if r.DryRun {
 		rec.Output = c.OutOrStdout()
 	}
diff --git a/kyaml/kio/filters/container_test.go b/kyaml/kio/filters/container_test.go
index d5fda8200..441f43a7f 100644
--- a/kyaml/kio/filters/container_test.go
+++ b/kyaml/kio/filters/container_test.go
@@ -587,6 +587,96 @@ metadata:
 `, b.String())
 }
 
+func TestFilter_Filter_globalScope(t *testing.T) {
+	cfg, err := yaml.Parse(`apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Deployment
+metadata:
+  name: foo
+  annotations:
+    config.kubernetes.io/path: 'foo/bar.yaml'
+`)
+	if !assert.NoError(t, err) {
+		return
+	}
+
+	input, err := (&kio.ByteReader{Reader: bytes.NewBufferString(`
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Deployment
+metadata:
+  name: deployment-foo
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Service
+metadata:
+  name: service-foo
+`)}).Read()
+	if !assert.NoError(t, err) {
+		return
+	}
+
+	// no resources match the scope
+	called := false
+	result, err := (&ContainerFilter{
+		GlobalScope: true,
+		Image:       "example.com:version",
+		Config:      cfg,
+		args:        []string{"sed", "s/Deployment/StatefulSet/g"},
+		checkInput: func(s string) {
+			called = true
+			if !assert.Equal(t, `apiVersion: config.kubernetes.io/v1alpha1
+kind: ResourceList
+items:
+- apiVersion: apps/v1
+  kind: Deployment
+  metadata:
+    name: deployment-foo
+    annotations:
+      config.kubernetes.io/index: '0'
+- apiVersion: v1
+  kind: Service
+  metadata:
+    name: service-foo
+    annotations:
+      config.kubernetes.io/index: '1'
+functionConfig: {apiVersion: apps/v1, kind: Deployment, metadata: {name: foo, annotations: {
+      config.kubernetes.io/path: 'foo/bar.yaml'}}}
+`, s) {
+				t.FailNow()
+			}
+		},
+	}).Filter(input)
+	if !assert.NoError(t, err) {
+		return
+	}
+	if !assert.True(t, called) {
+		return
+	}
+
+	b := &bytes.Buffer{}
+	err = kio.ByteWriter{Writer: b, KeepReaderAnnotations: true}.Write(result)
+	if !assert.NoError(t, err) {
+		return
+	}
+
+	// Resources should be preserved -- paths shouldn't be set by container
+	assert.Equal(t, `apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: StatefulSet
+metadata:
+  name: deployment-foo
+  annotations:
+    config.kubernetes.io/index: '0'
+    config.kubernetes.io/path: 'foo/statefulset_deployment-foo.yaml'
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Service
+metadata:
+  name: service-foo
+  annotations:
+    config.kubernetes.io/index: '1'
+    config.kubernetes.io/path: 'foo/service_service-foo.yaml'
+`, b.String())
+}
+
 func TestFilter_Filter_scopeFunctionsDir(t *testing.T) {
 	// functions under "functions/" dir should be scoped to parent dir
 	cfg, err := yaml.Parse(`apiVersion: apps/v1
diff --git a/kyaml/runfn/runfn.go b/kyaml/runfn/runfn.go
index f0b32c912..4aabe5ba1 100644
--- a/kyaml/runfn/runfn.go
+++ b/kyaml/runfn/runfn.go
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ type RunFns struct {
 	// directory
 	FunctionPaths []string
 
+	GlobalScope bool
+
 	// Output can be set to write the result to Output rather than back to the directory
 	Output io.Writer
 
@@ -91,7 +93,12 @@ func (r *RunFns) init() {
 	// if containerFilterProvider hasn't been set, use the default
 	if r.containerFilterProvider == nil {
 		r.containerFilterProvider = func(image, path string, api *yaml.RNode) kio.Filter {
-			cf := &filters.ContainerFilter{Image: image, Config: api, StorageMounts: r.StorageMounts}
+			cf := &filters.ContainerFilter{
+				Image:         image,
+				Config:        api,
+				StorageMounts: r.StorageMounts,
+				GlobalScope:   r.GlobalScope,
+			}
 			return cf
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/kyaml/runfn/runfn_test.go b/kyaml/runfn/runfn_test.go
index 3ff988ffd..7a9cb8d90 100644
--- a/kyaml/runfn/runfn_test.go
+++ b/kyaml/runfn/runfn_test.go
@@ -43,6 +43,20 @@ kind:
 	assert.Equal(t, &filters.ContainerFilter{Image: "example.com:version", Config: api}, filter)
 }
 
+func TestRunFns_Execute_globalScope(t *testing.T) {
+	instance := RunFns{GlobalScope: true}
+	instance.init()
+	api, err := yaml.Parse(`apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: 
+`)
+	if !assert.NoError(t, err) {
+		return
+	}
+	filter := instance.containerFilterProvider("example.com:version", "", api)
+	assert.Equal(t, &filters.ContainerFilter{
+		Image: "example.com:version", Config: api, GlobalScope: true}, filter)
+}
+
 func TestCmd_Execute(t *testing.T) {
 	dir, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "kustomize-kyaml-test")
 	if !assert.NoError(t, err) {