diff --git a/cmd/stress/stress.go b/cmd/stress/stress.go
index ee68917cba..b1dda15e9d 100644
--- a/cmd/stress/stress.go
+++ b/cmd/stress/stress.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import (
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"regexp"
 	"runtime"
 	"syscall"
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@ var (
 	flagKill    = flag.Bool("kill", true, "kill timed out processes if true, otherwise just print pid (to attach with gdb)")
 	flagFailure = flag.String("failure", "", "fail only if output matches `regexp`")
 	flagIgnore  = flag.String("ignore", "", "ignore failure if output matches `regexp`")
+	flagOutput  = flag.String("o", defaultPrefix(), "output failure logs to `path` plus a unique suffix")
 )
 
 func init() {
@@ -47,6 +49,11 @@ Usage:
 	}
 }
 
+func defaultPrefix() string {
+	date := time.Now().Format("go-stress-20060102T150405-")
+	return filepath.Join(os.TempDir(), date)
+}
+
 func main() {
 	flag.Parse()
 	if *flagP <= 0 || *flagTimeout <= 0 || len(flag.Args()) == 0 {
@@ -115,7 +122,8 @@ func main() {
 				continue
 			}
 			fails++
-			f, err := ioutil.TempFile("", "go-stress")
+			dir, path := filepath.Split(*flagOutput)
+			f, err := ioutil.TempFile(dir, path)
 			if err != nil {
 				fmt.Printf("failed to create temp file: %v\n", err)
 				os.Exit(1)