diff --git a/damnit/ctxsupport/ctxrunner.py b/damnit/ctxsupport/ctxrunner.py
index 9ede9a05..2de36ddf 100644
--- a/damnit/ctxsupport/ctxrunner.py
+++ b/damnit/ctxsupport/ctxrunner.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 import argparse
 import functools
+import inspect
 import logging
 import os
 import time
@@ -212,16 +213,28 @@ def __init__(self, data, ctx):
     def create(cls, ctx_file: ContextFile, inputs, run_number, proposal):
         res = {'start_time': np.asarray(get_start_time(inputs['run_data']))}
 
+        def get_dep_or_default(var, arg_name, dep_name):
+            """
+            Helper function to get either the value returned from the dependency
+            `dep_name` of `var`, if any, or the default value of the argument in
+            the function signature.
+            """
+            value = res.get(dep_name)
+            if value is None:
+                value = inspect.signature(var.func).parameters[arg_name].default
+
+            return value
+
         for name in ctx_file.ordered_vars():
             var = ctx_file.vars[name]
 
             try:
                 # Add all variable dependencies
-                kwargs = { arg_name: res.get(dep_name)
+                kwargs = { arg_name: get_dep_or_default(var, arg_name, dep_name)
                            for arg_name, dep_name in var.arg_dependencies().items() }
 
-                # If any are None, skip this variable since we're missing a dependency
-                missing_deps = [key for key, value in kwargs.items() if value is None]
+                # Check for missing dependencies with no default value
+                missing_deps = [key for key, value in kwargs.items() if value is inspect.Parameter.empty]
                 if len(missing_deps) > 0:
                     log.warning(f"Skipping {name} because of missing dependencies: {', '.join(missing_deps)}")
                     continue
diff --git a/docs/backend.md b/docs/backend.md
index 3d4be5d1..30fe4c2d 100644
--- a/docs/backend.md
+++ b/docs/backend.md
@@ -99,6 +99,16 @@ def bar(run, value: "var#foo"):
     return value * 2
 ```
 
+Dependencies with default values are also allowed, the default value will be
+passed to the function if the dependency did not complete execution for some
+reason:
+```python
+@Variable(title="baz")
+def baz(run, bar: "var#bar"=42):
+    # This will return the result of foo() if foo() succeeded, otherwise 42
+    return value
+```
+
 ## Reprocessing
 The context file is loaded each time a run is received, so if you edit the
 context file the changes will only take effect for the runs coming later. But,
diff --git a/tests/test_backend.py b/tests/test_backend.py
index 6ae755e9..280125a1 100644
--- a/tests/test_backend.py
+++ b/tests/test_backend.py
@@ -225,6 +225,19 @@ def bar(run, foo: "var#foo"):
         # There should be no computed variables since we treat None as a missing dependency
         assert tuple(results.data.keys()) == ("start_time",)
 
+    default_value_code = """
+    from damnit_ctx import Variable
+
+    @Variable(title="foo")
+    def foo(run): return None
+
+    @Variable(title="bar")
+    def bar(run, foo: "var#foo"=1): return 41 + foo
+    """
+    default_value_ctx = mkcontext(default_value_code)
+    results = results_create(default_value_ctx)
+    assert results.reduced["bar"].item() == 42
+
     # Test that the backend completely updates all datasets belonging to a
     # variable during reprocessing. e.g. if it had a trainId dataset but now
     # doesn't, the trainId dataset should be deleted from the HDF5 file.