diff --git a/api/konfig/general.go b/api/konfig/general.go
index c681e72b7..80a7d9be1 100644
--- a/api/konfig/general.go
+++ b/api/konfig/general.go
@@ -30,4 +30,10 @@ const (
 
 	// A program name, for use in help, finding the XDG_CONFIG_DIR, etc.
 	ProgramName = "kustomize"
+
+	// Label key that indicates the resources are built from Kustomize
+	ManagedbyLabelKey = "app.kubernetes.io/managed-by"
+
+	// An environment variable to turn on/off adding the ManagedByLabelKey
+	EnableManagedbyLabelEnv = "KUSTOMIZE_ENABLE_MANAGEDBY_LABEL"
 )
diff --git a/api/krusty/kustomizer.go b/api/krusty/kustomizer.go
index 97cf2ddd2..12671f5de 100644
--- a/api/krusty/kustomizer.go
+++ b/api/krusty/kustomizer.go
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import (
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/internal/target"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/k8sdeps/kunstruct"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/k8sdeps/validator"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/konfig"
 	fLdr "sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/loader"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/provenance"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/resmap"
@@ -20,10 +21,6 @@ import (
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/types"
 )
 
-const (
-	managedbyLabelKey = "app.kubernetes.io/managed-by"
-)
-
 // Kustomizer performs kustomizations.  It's meant to behave
 // similarly to the kustomize CLI, and can be used instead of
 // performing an exec to a kustomize CLI subprocess.
@@ -87,7 +84,7 @@ func (b *Kustomizer) Run(path string) (resmap.ResMap, error) {
 	}
 	if b.options.AddManagedbyLabel {
 		t := builtins.LabelTransformerPlugin{
-			Labels: map[string]string{managedbyLabelKey: fmt.Sprintf("kustomize-%s", provenance.GetProvenance().Version)},
+			Labels: map[string]string{konfig.ManagedbyLabelKey: fmt.Sprintf("kustomize-%s", provenance.GetProvenance().Version)},
 			FieldSpecs: []types.FieldSpec{{
 				Path:               "metadata/labels",
 				CreateIfNotPresent: true,
diff --git a/kustomize/go.mod b/kustomize/go.mod
index 7ee868568..7ae265634 100644
--- a/kustomize/go.mod
+++ b/kustomize/go.mod
@@ -23,3 +23,5 @@ exclude (
 	github.com/russross/blackfriday v2.0.0+incompatible
 	sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api v0.2.0
 )
+
+replace sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api => ../api
diff --git a/kustomize/internal/commands/build/build.go b/kustomize/internal/commands/build/build.go
index 9bd490c96..8cadb15ea 100644
--- a/kustomize/internal/commands/build/build.go
+++ b/kustomize/internal/commands/build/build.go
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ func NewCmdBuild(out io.Writer) *cobra.Command {
 	addFlagLoadRestrictor(cmd.Flags())
 	addFlagEnablePlugins(cmd.Flags())
 	addFlagReorderOutput(cmd.Flags())
+	addFlagEnableManagedbyLabel(cmd.Flags())
 	return cmd
 }
 
@@ -114,6 +115,9 @@ func (o *Options) makeOptions() *krusty.Options {
 	} else {
 		opts.PluginConfig = konfig.DisabledPluginConfig()
 	}
+	if isManagedbyLabelEnabled() {
+		opts.AddManagedbyLabel = true
+	}
 	return opts
 }
 
diff --git a/kustomize/internal/commands/build/flagaddmanagedby.go b/kustomize/internal/commands/build/flagaddmanagedby.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3d737f518
--- /dev/null
+++ b/kustomize/internal/commands/build/flagaddmanagedby.go
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The Kubernetes Authors.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+package build
+
+import (
+	"os"
+
+	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
+
+	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/konfig"
+)
+
+const (
+	flagEnableManagedbyLabelName = "enable_managedby_label"
+	flagEnableManagedbyLabelHelp = `enable adding ` + konfig.ManagedbyLabelKey
+)
+
+var (
+	flagEnableManagedbyLabelValue = false
+)
+
+func addFlagEnableManagedbyLabel(set *pflag.FlagSet) {
+	set.BoolVar(
+		&flagEnableManagedbyLabelValue, flagEnableManagedbyLabelName,
+		false, flagEnableManagedbyLabelHelp)
+}
+
+func isManagedbyLabelEnabled() bool {
+	if flagEnableManagedbyLabelValue {
+		return true
+	}
+	enableLabel, isSet := os.LookupEnv(konfig.EnableManagedbyLabelEnv)
+	if isSet && enableLabel == "on" {
+		return true
+	}
+	return false
+}
diff --git a/kustomize/kustomize b/kustomize/kustomize
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..812f5b4da
Binary files /dev/null and b/kustomize/kustomize differ