diff --git a/README b/README
index b36d8b7454..5731ab3433 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -1540,6 +1540,18 @@ external: external links in notices. One of three values: 'sometimes',
     nofollowed on profile, notice, and favorites page. Default is
     'sometimes'.
 
+router
+------
+
+We use a router class for mapping URLs to code. This section controls
+how that router works.
+
+cache: whether to cache the router in memcache (or another caching
+    mechanism). Defaults to true, but may be set to false for
+    developers (who might be actively adding pages, so won't want the
+    router cached) or others who see strange behavior. You're unlikely
+    to need this unless you're a developer.
+
 Plugins
 =======
 
diff --git a/lib/default.php b/lib/default.php
index 6c8b039274..85d27f5220 100644
--- a/lib/default.php
+++ b/lib/default.php
@@ -324,4 +324,6 @@ $default =
         array('ssl_cafile' => false, // To enable SSL cert validation, point to a CA bundle (eg '/usr/lib/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt')
               'curl' => false, // Use CURL backend for HTTP fetches if available. (If not, PHP's socket streams will be used.)
               ),
+	'router' =>
+	array('cache' => true), // whether to cache the router object. Defaults to true, turn off for devel
         );
diff --git a/lib/router.php b/lib/router.php
index 8d2fbf6cd2..fb33125ab8 100644
--- a/lib/router.php
+++ b/lib/router.php
@@ -127,15 +127,19 @@ class Router
     function __construct()
     {
         if (empty($this->m)) {
-            $k = self::cacheKey();
-            $c = Cache::instance();
-            $m = $c->get($k);
-            if (!empty($m)) {
-                $this->m = $m;
-            } else {
+	    if (!common_config('router', 'cache')) {
                 $this->m = $this->initialize();
-                $c->set($k, $this->m);
-            }
+	    } else {
+		$k = self::cacheKey();
+		$c = Cache::instance();
+		$m = $c->get($k);
+		if (!empty($m)) {
+		    $this->m = $m;
+		} else {
+		    $this->m = $this->initialize();
+		    $c->set($k, $this->m);
+		}
+	    }
         }
     }