diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 30044eaa74..7c998a1569 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ All notable changes to [Earthly](https://github.com/earthly/earthly) will be doc
 
 ### Added
 
+- Added support for a custom `.netrc` file path using the standard `NETRC` environmental variable. [#2426](https://github.com/earthly/earthly/pull/2426)
 - Ability to run multiple Earthly installations at a time via `EARTHLY_INSTALLATION_NAME` environment variable, or the `--installation-name` CLI flag. The installation name defaults to `earthly` if not specified. Different installations use different configurations, different buildkit Daemons, different cache volumes, and different ports.
 
 ### Changed
diff --git a/buildcontext/gitlookup.go b/buildcontext/gitlookup.go
index b5f545033e..5c3ee85a28 100644
--- a/buildcontext/gitlookup.go
+++ b/buildcontext/gitlookup.go
@@ -436,8 +436,12 @@ func (gl *GitLookup) detectProtocol(host string) (protocol gitProtocol, err erro
 var errNoRCHostEntry = fmt.Errorf("no netrc host entry")
 
 func (gl *GitLookup) lookupNetRCCredential(host string) (login, password string, err error) {
-	homeDir, _ := fileutil.HomeDir()
-	n, err := netrc.Parse(filepath.Join(homeDir, ".netrc"))
+	netrcPath := os.Getenv("NETRC")
+	if netrcPath == "" {
+		homeDir, _ := fileutil.HomeDir()
+		netrcPath = filepath.Join(homeDir, ".netrc")
+	}
+	n, err := netrc.Parse(netrcPath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", "", errors.Wrap(err, "failed to parse .netrc")
 	}