diff --git a/hipcheck/src/cli.rs b/hipcheck/src/cli.rs
index 14e23a3e..144a7246 100644
--- a/hipcheck/src/cli.rs
+++ b/hipcheck/src/cli.rs
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ use crate::{
 	error::Context,
 	error::Result,
 	hc_error,
+	plugin::SupportedArch,
 	session::pm,
 	shell::{color_choice::ColorChoice, verbosity::Verbosity},
 	source,
@@ -416,6 +417,9 @@ pub struct CheckArgs {
 	#[clap(subcommand)]
 	command: Option<CheckCommand>,
 
+	#[arg(long = "arch")]
+	pub arch: Option<SupportedArch>,
+
 	#[arg(short = 't', long = "target")]
 	pub target_type: Option<TargetType>,
 	#[arg(
diff --git a/hipcheck/src/engine.rs b/hipcheck/src/engine.rs
index 0a4ab53b..39ae909c 100644
--- a/hipcheck/src/engine.rs
+++ b/hipcheck/src/engine.rs
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ use crate::{
 	cache::plugin::HcPluginCache,
 	hc_error,
 	plugin::{
-		get_plugin_key, retrieve_plugins, Plugin, PluginManifest, PluginResponse, QueryResult,
-		CURRENT_ARCH,
+		get_plugin_key, retrieve_plugins, try_get_current_arch, Plugin, PluginManifest,
+		PluginResponse, QueryResult,
 	},
 	policy::PolicyFile,
 	util::fs::{find_file_by_name, read_string},
@@ -225,6 +225,8 @@ pub fn start_plugins(
 		/* jitter_percent */ 10,
 	)?;
 
+	let current_arch = try_get_current_arch()?;
+
 	// retrieve, verify and extract all required plugins
 	let required_plugin_names = retrieve_plugins(&policy_file.plugins.0, plugin_cache)?;
 
@@ -241,11 +243,11 @@ pub fn start_plugins(
 		let contents = read_string(&plugin_kdl)?;
 		let plugin_manifest = PluginManifest::from_str(contents.as_str())?;
 		let entrypoint = plugin_manifest
-			.get_entrypoint(CURRENT_ARCH)
+			.get_entrypoint(current_arch)
 			.ok_or_else(|| {
 				hc_error!(
 					"Could not find {} entrypoint for {}/{} {}",
-					CURRENT_ARCH,
+					current_arch,
 					plugin_id.publisher.0,
 					plugin_id.name.0,
 					plugin_id.version.0
diff --git a/hipcheck/src/main.rs b/hipcheck/src/main.rs
index 6c45f02e..f58a1b57 100644
--- a/hipcheck/src/main.rs
+++ b/hipcheck/src/main.rs
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ use crate::{
 	cli::Format,
 	config::WeightTreeProvider,
 	error::{Context as _, Error, Result},
-	plugin::{Plugin, PluginExecutor, PluginWithConfig},
+	plugin::{try_set_arch, Plugin, PluginExecutor, PluginWithConfig},
 	report::report_builder::{build_report, Report},
 	session::Session,
 	setup::{resolve_and_transform_source, SourceType},
@@ -118,6 +118,13 @@ fn main() -> ExitCode {
 
 /// Run the `check` command.
 fn cmd_check(args: &CheckArgs, config: &CliConfig) -> ExitCode {
+	// Before we do any analysis, set the user-provided arch
+	if let Some(arch) = args.arch {
+		if let Err(e) = try_set_arch(arch) {
+			Shell::print_error(&e, Format::Human);
+			return ExitCode::FAILURE;
+		}
+	}
 	let target = match args.to_target_seed() {
 		Ok(target) => target,
 		Err(e) => {
diff --git a/hipcheck/src/plugin/download_manifest.rs b/hipcheck/src/plugin/download_manifest.rs
index 1182c151..82c0f55c 100644
--- a/hipcheck/src/plugin/download_manifest.rs
+++ b/hipcheck/src/plugin/download_manifest.rs
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ use crate::{
 	plugin::{
 		retrieval::{download_plugin, extract_plugin},
 		supported_arch::SupportedArch,
-		CURRENT_ARCH,
+		try_get_current_arch,
 	},
 	util::kdl::{extract_data, ParseKdlNode},
 	util::{
@@ -288,6 +288,8 @@ impl DownloadManifestEntry {
 		version: &PluginVersion,
 		downloaded_plugins: &'a mut HashSet<PluginId>,
 	) -> Result<&'a HashSet<PluginId>, Error> {
+		let current_arch = try_get_current_arch()?;
+
 		let plugin_id = PluginId::new(publisher.clone(), name.clone(), version.clone());
 
 		if downloaded_plugins.contains(&plugin_id) {
@@ -323,7 +325,7 @@ impl DownloadManifestEntry {
 				publisher.0,
 				name.0,
 				version.0,
-				CURRENT_ARCH
+				current_arch,
 			)
 		})?;
 
diff --git a/hipcheck/src/plugin/mod.rs b/hipcheck/src/plugin/mod.rs
index 338971cd..2bddf7d9 100644
--- a/hipcheck/src/plugin/mod.rs
+++ b/hipcheck/src/plugin/mod.rs
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ pub use plugin_manifest::{PluginManifest, PluginName, PluginPublisher, PluginVer
 pub use retrieval::retrieve_plugins;
 use serde_json::Value;
 use std::collections::HashMap;
-pub use supported_arch::CURRENT_ARCH;
+pub use supported_arch::{try_get_current_arch, try_set_arch, SupportedArch};
 use tokio::sync::Mutex;
 
 pub async fn initialize_plugins(
diff --git a/hipcheck/src/plugin/supported_arch.rs b/hipcheck/src/plugin/supported_arch.rs
index c70432e2..058b503d 100644
--- a/hipcheck/src/plugin/supported_arch.rs
+++ b/hipcheck/src/plugin/supported_arch.rs
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
+use crate::error::Result;
 use crate::hc_error;
-use std::{fmt::Display, str::FromStr};
+use clap::ValueEnum;
+use std::{fmt::Display, result::Result as StdResult, str::FromStr, sync::OnceLock};
 
-#[derive(Clone, Copy, Debug, PartialEq, Eq, Hash)]
+#[derive(Clone, Copy, Debug, PartialEq, Eq, Hash, ValueEnum)]
 /// Officially supported target triples, as of RFD #0004
 ///
 /// NOTE: these architectures correspond to the offically supported Rust platforms
@@ -18,36 +20,70 @@ pub enum SupportedArch {
 	X86_64UnknownLinuxGnu,
 }
 
-/// Architecture `hc` was built for
-pub const CURRENT_ARCH: SupportedArch = {
-	#[cfg(target_arch = "x86_64")]
-	{
-		#[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
-		{
-			SupportedArch::X86_64AppleDarwin
+pub const DETECTED_ARCH: Option<SupportedArch> = {
+	if cfg!(target_arch = "x86_64") {
+		if cfg!(target_os = "macos") {
+			Some(SupportedArch::X86_64AppleDarwin)
+		} else if cfg!(target_os = "linux") {
+			Some(SupportedArch::X86_64UnknownLinuxGnu)
+		} else if cfg!(target_os = "windows") {
+			Some(SupportedArch::X86_64PcWindowsMsvc)
+		} else {
+			None
 		}
-		#[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
-		{
-			SupportedArch::X86_64UnknownLinuxGnu
-		}
-		#[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
-		{
-			SupportedArch::X86_64PcWindowsMsvc
-		}
-	}
-	#[cfg(target_arch = "aarch64")]
-	{
-		#[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
-		{
-			SupportedArch::Aarch64AppleDarwin
+	} else if cfg!(target_arch = "aarch64") {
+		if cfg!(target_os = "macos") {
+			Some(SupportedArch::Aarch64AppleDarwin)
+		} else {
+			None
 		}
+	} else {
+		None
 	}
 };
 
+pub static USER_PROVIDED_ARCH: OnceLock<SupportedArch> = OnceLock::new();
+
+/// Get the target architecture for plugins. If the user provided a target,
+/// return that. Otherwise, if the `hc` binary was compiled for a supported
+/// architecture, return that. Otherwise return None.
+pub fn get_current_arch() -> Option<SupportedArch> {
+	if let Some(arch) = USER_PROVIDED_ARCH.get() {
+		Some(*arch)
+	} else if DETECTED_ARCH.is_some() {
+		DETECTED_ARCH
+	} else {
+		None
+	}
+}
+
+/// Like `get_current_arch()`, but returns an error message suggesting the
+/// user specifies a target on the CLI
+pub fn try_get_current_arch() -> Result<SupportedArch> {
+	if let Some(arch) = get_current_arch() {
+		Ok(arch)
+	} else {
+		Err(hc_error!("Could not resolve the current machine to one of the Hipcheck supported architectures. Please specify --arch on the commandline."))
+	}
+}
+
+pub fn try_set_arch(arch: SupportedArch) -> Result<()> {
+	let set_arch = USER_PROVIDED_ARCH.get_or_init(|| arch);
+	if *set_arch == arch {
+		Ok(())
+	} else {
+		Err(hc_error!(
+			"Architecture could not be set to {}, has already been set to {}",
+			arch,
+			set_arch
+		))
+	}
+}
+
 impl FromStr for SupportedArch {
 	type Err = crate::Error;
 
-	fn from_str(s: &str) -> Result<Self, Self::Err> {
+	fn from_str(s: &str) -> StdResult<Self, Self::Err> {
 		match s {
 			"aarch64-apple-darwin" => Ok(Self::Aarch64AppleDarwin),
 			"x86_64-apple-darwin" => Ok(Self::X86_64AppleDarwin),