diff --git a/tools/run-dev.py b/tools/run-dev.py
index 90d15d2d42..529b006324 100755
--- a/tools/run-dev.py
+++ b/tools/run-dev.py
@@ -55,6 +55,10 @@ parser.add_option('--test',
                   action='store_true', dest='test',
                   help='Use the testing database and ports')
 
+parser.add_option('--minify',
+                  action='store_true', dest='minify',
+                  help='Minifies assets for testing in dev')
+
 parser.add_option('--interface',
                   action='store', dest='interface',
                   default=None, help='Set the IP or hostname for the proxy to listen on')
@@ -186,7 +190,10 @@ if options.test:
     # for the Casper tests.
     subprocess.check_call('./tools/webpack')
 else:
-    cmds += [['./tools/webpack', '--watch', '--port', str(webpack_port)]]
+    webpack_cmd = ['./tools/webpack', '--watch', '--port', str(webpack_port)]
+    if options.minify:
+        webpack_cmd.append('--minify')
+    cmds.append(webpack_cmd)
 for cmd in cmds:
     subprocess.Popen(cmd)
 
diff --git a/tools/webpack b/tools/webpack
index eb5063ed09..4a4302b6b5 100755
--- a/tools/webpack
+++ b/tools/webpack
@@ -25,11 +25,14 @@ def run():
     subprocess.check_call(['node', 'node_modules/.bin/webpack'] +
                           ['--config', 'tools/webpack.production.config.js', '-p'])
 
-def run_watch(port):
-    # type: (str) -> None
+def run_watch(port, minify):
+    # type: (str, bool) -> None
     """watches and rebuilds on changes, serving files from memory via webpack-dev-server"""
-    subprocess.Popen(['node', 'node_modules/.bin/webpack-dev-server'] +
-                     ['--config', 'tools/webpack.dev.config.js', '--watch-poll', '--port', port])
+    webpack_args = ['node', 'node_modules/.bin/webpack-dev-server']
+    webpack_args += ['--config', 'tools/webpack.dev.config.js', '--watch-poll', '--port', port]
+    if minify:
+        webpack_args.append('--optimize-minimize')
+    subprocess.Popen(webpack_args)
 
 def run_test():
     # type: () -> None
@@ -63,11 +66,14 @@ parser.add_argument('--watch',
 parser.add_argument('--port',
                     action='store', dest='port',
                     default='9994', help='set the port for the webpack server to run on')
+parser.add_argument('--minify',
+                    action='store_true', dest='minify', default=False,
+                    help='Minify and optimize the assets (for development)')
 
 args = parser.parse_args()
 if args.test:
     run_test()
 elif args.watch:
-    run_watch(args.port)
+    run_watch(args.port, args.minify)
 else:
     run()
diff --git a/zproject/settings.py b/zproject/settings.py
index b10675b4b7..88a6051c8a 100644
--- a/zproject/settings.py
+++ b/zproject/settings.py
@@ -67,7 +67,8 @@ ZULIP_ORG_KEY = get_secret("zulip_org_key")
 ZULIP_ORG_ID = get_secret("zulip_org_id")
 
 if 'DEBUG' not in globals():
-    # Uncomment end of next line to test JS/CSS minification.
+    # Uncomment end of next line to test CSS minification.
+    # For webpack JS minification use tools/run_dev.py --minify
     DEBUG = DEVELOPMENT # and platform.node() != 'your-machine'
 
 if DEBUG: