diff --git a/lib/jsduck/batch_parser.rb b/lib/jsduck/batch_parser.rb
index 17a7454d70b05e17ebcefc0831cf40be9df85572..8abe6677ad6283e73b61488bc0c2e3d7ec15aa9a 100644
--- a/lib/jsduck/batch_parser.rb
+++ b/lib/jsduck/batch_parser.rb
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ module JsDuck
   class BatchParser
 
     def self.parse(opts)
-      cache = Cache.new(Dir.getwd + "/.cache")
+      cache = Cache.create(opts)
 
       Util::Parallel.map(opts.input_files) do |fname|
         Logger.log("Parsing", fname)
diff --git a/lib/jsduck/cache.rb b/lib/jsduck/cache.rb
index d6c73301815bb7adfc182ab911ff3875673eaf40..cb563daf69ef546d81e9090772e98765192f2c00 100644
--- a/lib/jsduck/cache.rb
+++ b/lib/jsduck/cache.rb
@@ -1,13 +1,27 @@
 require 'digest/md5'
 require 'fileutils'
+require 'jsduck/util/null_object'
 
 module JsDuck
 
   # Reads/writes parsed files in cache.
   class Cache
+
+    # Factory method to produce a cache object.  When caching is
+    # disabled, returns a NullObject which emulates a cache that's
+    # always empty.
+    def self.create(opts)
+      # Check also for cache_dir, which will be nil when output_dir is :stdout
+      if opts.cache && opts.cache_dir
+        Cache.new(opts.cache_dir)
+      else
+        Util::NullObject.new(:read => nil, :write => nil)
+      end
+    end
+
     def initialize(cache_dir)
       @cache_dir = cache_dir
-      FileUtils.mkdir(cache_dir) unless File.exists?(cache_dir)
+      FileUtils.mkdir_p(cache_dir) unless File.exists?(cache_dir)
     end
 
     # Given contents of a source file, reads the already parsed data
diff --git a/lib/jsduck/class_writer.rb b/lib/jsduck/class_writer.rb
index f8532c75c6558d5cdaad3a02ee18a4edd8ff9f29..1c0be7b21c0939cdd7976e185e31ef4383589b35 100644
--- a/lib/jsduck/class_writer.rb
+++ b/lib/jsduck/class_writer.rb
@@ -29,7 +29,8 @@ module JsDuck
     end
 
     def write_dir(dir, extension)
-      FileUtils.mkdir(dir)
+      FileUtils.mkdir(dir) unless File.exists?(dir)
+
       Util::Parallel.each(@relations.classes) do |cls|
         filename = dir + "/" + cls[:name] + extension
         Logger.log("Writing docs", filename)
diff --git a/lib/jsduck/export_writer.rb b/lib/jsduck/export_writer.rb
index a310f0dffeb7070ded428164556aac50db2badc3..48cfb2dae2f5b3f774cbd0a9c181a27f0a3a9b2e 100644
--- a/lib/jsduck/export_writer.rb
+++ b/lib/jsduck/export_writer.rb
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ require 'jsduck/exporter/examples'
 require 'jsduck/format/batch'
 require 'jsduck/class_writer'
 require 'jsduck/guide_writer'
+require 'jsduck/output_dir'
 require 'fileutils'
 
 module JsDuck
@@ -50,7 +51,7 @@ module JsDuck
     # -- util routines --
 
     def clean_output_dir
-      FileUtils.rm_rf(@opts.output_dir)
+      OutputDir.clean(@opts)
     end
 
     def format_classes
diff --git a/lib/jsduck/options.rb b/lib/jsduck/options.rb
index 368fa1b8e7b80b1ec019610eb077f74c9ad008d9..aa17bf9deae35955e54fcf64b497fac7ab38f1ec 100644
--- a/lib/jsduck/options.rb
+++ b/lib/jsduck/options.rb
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ module JsDuck
 
     # Debugging
     attr_accessor :warnings_exit_nonzero
+    attr_accessor :cache
+    attr_accessor :cache_dir
     attr_accessor :template_dir
     attr_accessor :template_links
     attr_accessor :extjs_path
@@ -132,6 +134,8 @@ module JsDuck
 
       # Debugging
       @warnings_exit_nonzero = false
+      @cache = false
+      @cache_dir = nil
       @root_dir = File.dirname(File.dirname(File.dirname(__FILE__)))
       @template_dir = @root_dir + "/template-min"
       @template_links = false
@@ -203,7 +207,12 @@ module JsDuck
           "This option is REQUIRED.  When the directory exists,",
           "it will be overwritten.  Give dash '-' as argument",
           "to write docs to STDOUT (works only with --export).") do |path|
-          @output_dir = path == "-" ? :stdout : canonical(path)
+          if path == "-"
+            @output_dir = :stdout
+          else
+            @output_dir = canonical(path)
+            @cache_dir = @output_dir + "/.cache" unless @cache_dir
+          end
         end
 
         opts.on('--export=TYPE',
@@ -739,6 +748,20 @@ module JsDuck
           Util::Parallel.in_processes = count.to_i
         end
 
+        opts.on('--[no-]cache',
+          "Turn parser cache on/off (EXPERIMENTAL).",
+          "",
+          "Off by default.") do |enabled|
+          @cache = enabled
+        end
+
+        opts.on('--cache-dir=PATH',
+          "Directory where to cache the parsed source.",
+          "",
+          "Defaults to: <output-dir>/.cache") do |path|
+          @cache_dir = path
+        end
+
         opts.on('--pretty-json',
           "Turns on pretty-printing of JSON.",
           "",
diff --git a/lib/jsduck/output_dir.rb b/lib/jsduck/output_dir.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..c32e9c2faa9875769e480000dd28a29c8bccb36c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/jsduck/output_dir.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+require 'fileutils'
+
+module JsDuck
+  # Cleans up the output dir from previous JSDuck run.  If the output
+  # dir contains a .cache directory (and this dir is currently used
+  # for caching), it gets preserved, otherwise just an empty output
+  # dir is created.
+  class OutputDir
+
+    # Initializes empty output directory (with optional .cache inside).
+    def self.clean(opts)
+      if opts.cache && cache_dir_needs_preserving(opts)
+        # Remove all files inside <output-dir> except .cache/
+        Dir[opts.output_dir + "/*"].each do |file|
+          FileUtils.rm_rf(file) unless file =~ /\/.cache\z/
+        end
+      else
+        # Remove and recreate the entire <output-dir>
+        FileUtils.rm_rf(opts.output_dir)
+        FileUtils.mkdir(opts.output_dir)
+      end
+    end
+
+    def self.cache_dir_needs_preserving(opts)
+      opts.cache_dir == opts.output_dir + "/.cache" && File.exists?(opts.cache_dir)
+    end
+
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/jsduck/web/template.rb b/lib/jsduck/web/template.rb
index e4803a523db821c366f6b86108276f4494a0ca2f..9a636ea25b531bb81f8696e0a3b0d1bc6079257c 100644
--- a/lib/jsduck/web/template.rb
+++ b/lib/jsduck/web/template.rb
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ module JsDuck
       end
 
       def write
-        FileUtils.mkdir(@opts.output_dir)
         if @opts.template_links
           Logger.log("Linking template files to", @opts.output_dir)
           move_files(:symlink)
diff --git a/lib/jsduck/web/writer.rb b/lib/jsduck/web/writer.rb
index 8c96073361fbe353a925b3906796fa6a26c55a30..f15d9718b11b5443a4e9729548d57cfa6df05cbb 100644
--- a/lib/jsduck/web/writer.rb
+++ b/lib/jsduck/web/writer.rb
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ require 'jsduck/exporter/app'
 require 'jsduck/format/batch'
 require 'jsduck/class_writer'
 require 'jsduck/inline_examples'
+require 'jsduck/output_dir'
 require 'jsduck/web/template'
 require 'jsduck/web/index_html'
 require 'jsduck/web/data'
@@ -23,6 +24,8 @@ module JsDuck
       end
 
       def write
+        clean_output_dir
+
         write_template_files
 
         write_member_icons
@@ -42,9 +45,12 @@ module JsDuck
         @assets.write
       end
 
-      # Clean output dir and copy over template files
+      def clean_output_dir
+        OutputDir.clean(@opts)
+      end
+
+      # Copy over template files
       def write_template_files
-        FileUtils.rm_rf(@opts.output_dir)
         Web::Template.new(@opts).write
       end