diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 538a732..7e68f89 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -68,12 +68,10 @@ Or install it yourself as:
 
 Then tell your ruby web application to use rack-attack as a middleware.
 
-a) For __rails__ applications:
+a) For __rails__ applications it is used by default. You can disable it permanently (like for specific environment) or temporarily (can be useful for specific test cases) by writing:
 
 ```ruby
-# In config/application.rb
-
-config.middleware.use Rack::Attack
+Rack::Attack.enabled = false
 ```
 
 b) For __rack__ applications:
diff --git a/lib/rack/attack.rb b/lib/rack/attack.rb
index f4297a5..e38b4ba 100644
--- a/lib/rack/attack.rb
+++ b/lib/rack/attack.rb
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ require 'rack/attack/path_normalizer'
 require 'rack/attack/request'
 require "ipaddr"
 
+require 'rack/attack/railtie' if defined?(Rails)
+
 module Rack
   class Attack
     class MisconfiguredStoreError < StandardError; end
@@ -28,7 +30,8 @@ module Rack
     autoload :Allow2Ban,            'rack/attack/allow2ban'
 
     class << self
-      attr_accessor :notifier, :blocklisted_response, :throttled_response, :anonymous_blocklists, :anonymous_safelists
+      attr_accessor :enabled, :notifier, :blocklisted_response, :throttled_response,
+                    :anonymous_blocklists, :anonymous_safelists
 
       def safelist(name = nil, &block)
         safelist = Safelist.new(name, &block)
@@ -134,6 +137,7 @@ module Rack
     end
 
     # Set defaults
+    @enabled = true
     @anonymous_blocklists = []
     @anonymous_safelists = []
     @notifier = ActiveSupport::Notifications if defined?(ActiveSupport::Notifications)
@@ -148,6 +152,8 @@ module Rack
     end
 
     def call(env)
+      return @app.call(env) unless self.class.enabled
+
       env['PATH_INFO'] = PathNormalizer.normalize_path(env['PATH_INFO'])
       request = Rack::Attack::Request.new(env)
 
diff --git a/lib/rack/attack/railtie.rb b/lib/rack/attack/railtie.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5136560
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/rack/attack/railtie.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+module Rack
+  class Attack
+    class Railtie < Rails::Railtie
+      config.after_initialize do |app|
+        include_middleware = app.middleware.none? { |m| m == Rack::Attack }
+        app.middleware.use(Rack::Attack) if include_middleware
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/rack_attack_spec.rb b/spec/rack_attack_spec.rb
index 51d7cf4..83c3708 100644
--- a/spec/rack_attack_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/rack_attack_spec.rb
@@ -76,4 +76,27 @@ describe 'Rack::Attack' do
       end
     end
   end
+
+  describe 'enabled' do
+    it 'should be enabled by default' do
+      Rack::Attack.enabled.must_equal true
+    end
+
+    it 'should directly pass request when disabled' do
+      bad_ip = '1.2.3.4'
+      Rack::Attack.blocklist("ip #{bad_ip}") { |req| req.ip == bad_ip }
+
+      get '/', {}, 'REMOTE_ADDR' => bad_ip
+      last_response.status.must_equal 403
+
+      prev_enabled = Rack::Attack.enabled
+      begin
+        Rack::Attack.enabled = false
+        get '/', {}, 'REMOTE_ADDR' => bad_ip
+        last_response.status.must_equal 200
+      ensure
+        Rack::Attack.enabled = prev_enabled
+      end
+    end
+  end
 end