diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 666deb5514..ec962c25fc 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -64,7 +64,8 @@ api-test: api-default
 ### api-run:		Run the manager-api
 .PHONY: api-run
 api-run: api-default
-	cd api/ && go run ./cmd/manager
+	api/build.sh --dry-run
+
 
 ### api-stop:		Stop the manager-api
 api-stop:
diff --git a/api/build.sh b/api/build.sh
index fe7a630a32..d2b9ed5483 100755
--- a/api/build.sh
+++ b/api/build.sh
@@ -15,12 +15,21 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 #
-set -ex
-export ENV=local
-pwd=`pwd`
+set -e
 
 VERSION=$(cat ./api/VERSION)
 GITHASH=$(cat ./.githash 2> /dev/null || HASH="ref: HEAD"; while [[ $HASH == ref\:* ]]; do HASH="$(cat ".git/$(echo $HASH | cut -d \  -f 2)")"; done; echo ${HASH:0:7})
+GOLDFLAGS="-X github.com/apisix/manager-api/cmd.Version=${VERSION} -X github.com/apisix/manager-api/cmd.GitHash=${GITHASH}"
+
+# Enter dry-run mode
+if [ "$1" == "--dry-run" ]; then
+    cd ./api && go run -ldflags "${GOLDFLAGS}" ./cmd/manager
+    exit 0
+fi
+
+set -x
+export ENV=local
+pwd=`pwd`
 
 rm -rf output && mkdir -p output/conf && mkdir -p output/dag-to-lua
 
@@ -32,7 +41,7 @@ if [[ ! -f "dag-to-lua-1.1/lib/dag-to-lua.lua" ]]; then
 fi
 
 # build
-cd ./api && go build -o ../output/manager-api -ldflags "-X github.com/apisix/manager-api/cmd.Version=${VERSION} -X github.com/apisix/manager-api/cmd.GitHash=${GITHASH}" ./cmd/manager && cd ..
+cd ./api && go build -o ../output/manager-api -ldflags "${GOLDFLAGS}" ./cmd/manager && cd ..
 
 cp ./api/conf/schema.json ./output/conf/schema.json
 cp ./api/conf/conf.yaml ./output/conf/conf.yaml