diff --git a/lib/egg.js b/lib/egg.js
index d0f5b52c..93bfb33f 100644
--- a/lib/egg.js
+++ b/lib/egg.js
@@ -31,16 +31,23 @@ class EggCore extends KoaApplication {
   constructor(options = {}) {
     options.baseDir = options.baseDir || process.cwd();
     options.type = options.type || 'application';
-    if (typeof options.pathToRegexpModule === 'string') {
+    const pathToRegexpModule = options.pathToRegexpModule || process.env.EGG_OPTIONS_PATH_TO_REGEXP_MODULE;
+    if (typeof pathToRegexpModule === 'string') {
       /**
        * Usage:
+       *
        * ```js
        * const app = new Application({
        *   pathToRegexpModule: '/path/to/path-to-regexp-v8',
        * });
        * ```
+       *
+       * Or you can use `EGG_OPTIONS_PATH_TO_REGEXP_MODULE` environment variable.
+       * ```bash
+       * EGG_OPTIONS_PATH_TO_REGEXP_MODULE=/path/to/path-to-regexp-v8 npm start
+       * ```
        */
-      options.pathToRegexpModule = require(options.pathToRegexpModule);
+      options.pathToRegexpModule = require(pathToRegexpModule);
     }
 
     assert(typeof options.baseDir === 'string', 'options.baseDir required, and must be a string');
diff --git a/test/utils/router-with-pathToRegexpModule.test.js b/test/utils/router-with-pathToRegexpModule.test.js
index 79d302f1..b37f6ca4 100644
--- a/test/utils/router-with-pathToRegexpModule.test.js
+++ b/test/utils/router-with-pathToRegexpModule.test.js
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 const assert = require('assert');
 const request = require('supertest');
+const mm = require('mm');
 const utils = require('../utils');
 
 describe('test/utils/router-with-pathToRegexpModule.test.js', () => {
+  afterEach(mm.restore);
+
   let app;
   before(() => {
     app = utils.createApp('router-app-with-pathToRegexpModule', {
@@ -329,8 +332,9 @@ describe('test/utils/router-with-pathToRegexpModule.test.js', () => {
     });
   });
 
-  describe('router middleware', () => {
+  describe('set by env: EGG_OPTIONS_PATH_TO_REGEXP_MODULE', () => {
     before(() => {
+      mm(process.env, 'EGG_OPTIONS_PATH_TO_REGEXP_MODULE', 'path-to-regexp-v8');
       app = utils.createApp('router-in-app');
       app.loader.loadAll();
       return app.ready();