diff --git a/.github/workflows/aro-hcp-cd.yml b/.github/workflows/aro-hcp-cd.yml
index 60f00b28d..eb6ab2624 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/aro-hcp-cd.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/aro-hcp-cd.yml
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
   name: ARO HCP Continuous Deployment
   env:
     DEPLOY_ENV: dev
+    PERSIST: true
     SKIP_CONFIRM: true
   on:
     workflow_dispatch:
diff --git a/config/config.yaml b/config/config.yaml
index 40abe87e0..c4e82cb2b 100644
--- a/config/config.yaml
+++ b/config/config.yaml
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ defaults:
   kubernetesVersion: 1.30.5
   istioVersion: "['asm-1-22']"
   vnetAddressPrefix: "10.128.0.0/14"
-  persist: true
   subnetPrefix: "10.128.8.0/21"
   podSubnetPrefix: "10.128.64.0/18"
   aksName: aro-hcp-aks
@@ -149,8 +148,6 @@ clouds:
         # this is the personal DEV environment
         defaults:
           <<: *rh-dev-tmpl
-          # saving money!
-          persist: false
           # Cluster Service
           clusterServicePostgresDeploy: false
           # DNS
diff --git a/dev-infrastructure/Makefile b/dev-infrastructure/Makefile
index 3fbf259c1..cbb18910f 100644
--- a/dev-infrastructure/Makefile
+++ b/dev-infrastructure/Makefile
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ ifndef SKIP_CONFIRM
 PROMPT_TO_CONFIRM = "--confirm-with-what-if"
 endif
 
+PERSIST ?= false
+
 MGMT_KUBECONFIG_FILE ?= ${HOME}/.kube/${MGMT_RESOURCEGROUP}.kubeconfig
 SVC_KUBECONFIG_FILE ?= ${HOME}/.kube/${SVC_RESOURCEGROUP}.kubeconfig
 
@@ -159,6 +161,8 @@ region: region.wait regional.rg
 		$(PROMPT_TO_CONFIRM) \
 		--parameters \
 			configurations/region.bicepparam
+		--parameters \
+			persist=${PERSIST}
 .PHONY: region
 
 region.clean:
@@ -202,6 +206,8 @@ svc: svc.wait svc.rg
 		$(PROMPT_TO_CONFIRM) \
 		--parameters \
 			configurations/svc-cluster.bicepparam
+		--parameters \
+			persist=${PERSIST}
 .PHONY: svc
 
 svc.enable-aks-metrics:
@@ -294,6 +300,8 @@ mgmt: mgmt.wait mgmt.rg
 		$(PROMPT_TO_CONFIRM) \
 		--parameters \
 			configurations/mgmt-cluster.bicepparam
+		--parameters \
+			persist=${PERSIST}
 .PHONY: mgmt
 
 mgmt.enable-aks-metrics:
diff --git a/dev-infrastructure/configurations/mgmt-cluster.tmpl.bicepparam b/dev-infrastructure/configurations/mgmt-cluster.tmpl.bicepparam
index 51982d795..75f5de7d8 100644
--- a/dev-infrastructure/configurations/mgmt-cluster.tmpl.bicepparam
+++ b/dev-infrastructure/configurations/mgmt-cluster.tmpl.bicepparam
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ param userAgentMaxCount = {{ .mgmtUserAgentPoolMaxCount }}
 param userAgentVMSize = '{{ .mgmtUserAgentPoolVmSize }}'
 param aksUserOsDiskSizeGB = {{ .mgmtUserAgentPoolOsDiskSizeGB }}
 param userAgentPoolAZCount = {{ .mgmtUserAgentPoolAzCount }}
-param persist = {{ .persist }}
 
 param maestroConsumerName = '{{ .maestroConsumerName }}'
 param maestroKeyVaultName = '{{ .maestroKeyVaultName }}'
diff --git a/dev-infrastructure/configurations/svc-cluster.tmpl.bicepparam b/dev-infrastructure/configurations/svc-cluster.tmpl.bicepparam
index 5d53b3d57..6a3ac77fe 100644
--- a/dev-infrastructure/configurations/svc-cluster.tmpl.bicepparam
+++ b/dev-infrastructure/configurations/svc-cluster.tmpl.bicepparam
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ param istioVersion = {{ .istioVersion }}
 param vnetAddressPrefix = '{{ .vnetAddressPrefix }}'
 param subnetPrefix = '{{ .subnetPrefix }}'
 param podSubnetPrefix = '{{ .podSubnetPrefix }}'
-param persist = {{ .persist }}
 param aksClusterName = '{{ .aksName }}'
 param aksKeyVaultName = '{{ .svcEtcdKVName }}'
 param aksEtcdKVEnableSoftDelete = {{ .svcEtcdKVSoftDelete }}
diff --git a/dev-infrastructure/docs/development-setup.md b/dev-infrastructure/docs/development-setup.md
index a550add4d..499aeec00 100644
--- a/dev-infrastructure/docs/development-setup.md
+++ b/dev-infrastructure/docs/development-setup.md
@@ -109,6 +109,8 @@ Note: you only need to run this once. Re-runing it wont hurt, but it will not ch
 
 ### Create infrastructure the easy way
 
+> A word of caution upfront: dev infrastructure is usually automatically deleted after 48h. If you want to keep your infrastructure indefinitely, run all the following commands with an env variable `PERSIST=true`
+
 To create the service cluster, management cluster and supporting infrastructure run the following command from the root of this repository.
 
   ```bash
@@ -141,7 +143,7 @@ This file offers multiple levels of overrides depending on cloud and deployment
 
 The base configuration for all Red Hat Azure Subscription based deployments can be found under `clouds.public.environments.rh-dev-tmpl`. This configures the shared infrastructure and component versions to be used in general.
 
-The deployment environment used for personal developer infrastructure is found under `.clouds.public.environments.personal-dev`. It inherits from `rh-dev-tmpl` and defines certain overrides, the most important one being `persist: false` which results in personal dev infrastructure to be cleaned up 48h after creation.
+The deployment environment used for personal developer infrastructure is found under `.clouds.public.environments.personal-dev`. It inherits from `rh-dev-tmpl` and defines certain overrides.
 
 ### Access AKS clusters
 
@@ -176,7 +178,7 @@ There are more fine grained cleanup tasks available as well
   make infra.imagesync.clean
   ```
 
-> Please note that all resource groups not tagged with `persist=true` will be deleted by our cleanup pipeline after 48 hours
+> Please note that all resource groups not tagged with `persist=true` will be deleted by our cleanup pipeline after 48 hours. In order to prevent that from happening, run the infrastructure deployment make targets with a `PERSIST=true` env variable defined
 
 ## Deploying Services quick and easy