diff --git a/bin/museSetup.sh b/bin/museSetup.sh
index 3fc4980..4409d59 100755
--- a/bin/museSetup.sh
+++ b/bin/museSetup.sh
@@ -231,6 +231,8 @@ export MUSE_G4ST=""
 export MUSE_G4VG=""
 export MUSE_TRIGGER=""
 export MUSE_ENVSET=""
+export MUSE_CPPFLAGS=""
+
 
 #
 # now parse the words
@@ -678,6 +680,26 @@ if [ "$QWARN" ]; then
     echo "     inconsistent builds and memory errors."
 fi
 
+#
+# search .muse files for compiler flags requests
+# using the backing directories in reverse order from above
+# note that the envset could have also added to the flags
+#
+
+for BDIR in $MUSE_BACKING_REV $MUSE_WORK_DIR
+do
+    REPOS=$(/bin/ls -1 $BDIR/*/.muse  2> /dev/null | awk -F/ '{printf "%s ", $(NF-1)}' )
+    for REPO in $REPOS
+    do
+        TEMP="$(cat $BDIR/$REPO/.muse |
+          awk '{if($1=="CPPFLAGS") {for(i=2;i<=NF;i++) printf "%s ", $i;}}')"
+        if [ -n "$TEMP" ]; then
+            [ $MUSE_VERBOSE -gt 0 ] && echo "CPPFLAGS $BDIR/$REPO/.muse adds $TEMP"
+            export MUSE_CPPFLAGS=${MUSE_CPPFLAGS:+$MUSE_CPPFLAGS" "}$TEMP
+        fi
+    done
+done
+
 #
 # check if we setup an empty directory, if so give a warning
 #
diff --git a/bin/museStatus.sh b/bin/museStatus.sh
index ff45796..c076a2f 100755
--- a/bin/museStatus.sh
+++ b/bin/museStatus.sh
@@ -110,6 +110,10 @@ if [ "$MUSE_PREBUILD" ]; then
     [ $MUSE_VERBOSE -gt 0 ] && echo "the pre build command:"
     echo "  MUSE_PREBUILD = " $MUSE_PREBUILD
 fi
+if [ "$MUSE_CPPFLAGS" ]; then
+    [ $MUSE_VERBOSE -gt 0 ] && echo "compile flags requested in .muse files:"
+    echo "  MUSE_CPPFLAGS = " $MUSE_CPPFLAGS
+fi
 
 echo
 
diff --git a/python/sconstruct_helper.py b/python/sconstruct_helper.py
index 93f3200..f48d8fa 100644
--- a/python/sconstruct_helper.py
+++ b/python/sconstruct_helper.py
@@ -143,10 +143,17 @@ def mergeFlags(mu2eOpts):
         if nn >= 27 :
             std = '-std=c++20'
 
+    cppflags = []
+    flagstr = os.environ.get('MUSE_CPPFLAGS')
+    if flagstr :
+        cppflags = flagstr.split()
+
     flags = [std,'-Wall','-Wno-unused-local-typedefs','-g',
              '-Werror','-Werror=pedantic',
              '-Wl,--no-undefined','-gdwarf-2', '-Wl,--as-needed',
-             '-Werror=return-type','-Winit-self','-Woverloaded-virtual' ]
+             '-Werror=return-type','-Winit-self','-Woverloaded-virtual']
+    flags = flags + cppflags
+
     if build == 'prof':
         flags = flags + [ '-O3', '-fno-omit-frame-pointer', '-DNDEBUG' ]
     elif build == 'debug':