diff --git a/History.md b/History.md
index ce96413323..94e72bc609 100644
--- a/History.md
+++ b/History.md
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
   * Fix `out_of_band` hook never executed if the number of worker threads is > 1 (#2177)
   * Fix ThreadPool#shutdown timeout accuracy (#2221)
   * Fix `UserFileDefaultOptions#fetch` to properly use `default` (#2233)
+  * Prefer the rackup file specified by the CLI (#2225)
 
 * Refactor
   * Remove unused loader argument from Plugin initializer (#2095)
diff --git a/lib/puma/dsl.rb b/lib/puma/dsl.rb
index 9bc51f77aa..41e03a1a7e 100644
--- a/lib/puma/dsl.rb
+++ b/lib/puma/dsl.rb
@@ -308,7 +308,7 @@ def debug
     # @example
     #   rackup '/u/apps/lolcat/config.ru'
     def rackup(path)
-      @options[:rackup] = path.to_s
+      @options[:rackup] ||= path.to_s
     end
 
     def early_hints(answer=true)
diff --git a/test/config/with_rackup_from_dsl.rb b/test/config/with_rackup_from_dsl.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3c310d8772
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/config/with_rackup_from_dsl.rb
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+rackup "test/rackup/hello-env.ru"
diff --git a/test/test_integration_single.rb b/test/test_integration_single.rb
index e1afa97f4d..864c3385ae 100644
--- a/test/test_integration_single.rb
+++ b/test/test_integration_single.rb
@@ -43,6 +43,17 @@ def test_term_suppress
     assert_equal 0, status
   end
 
+  def test_prefer_rackup_file_specified_by_cli
+    skip_unless_signal_exist? :TERM
+
+    cli_server "-C test/config/with_rackup_from_dsl.rb test/rackup/hello.ru"
+    connection = connect
+    reply = read_body(connection)
+    _, status = stop_server
+
+    assert_match("Hello World", reply)
+  end
+
   def test_term_not_accepts_new_connections
     skip_unless_signal_exist? :TERM
     skip_on :jruby