diff --git a/bin/prepare-vagrant-conf b/bin/prepare-vagrant-conf
--- a/bin/prepare-vagrant-conf
+++ b/bin/prepare-vagrant-conf
@@ -7,21 +7,25 @@
 FACTS_DIR="${OCD_BASE}/facts"
 
 function usage {
-    echo "usage: $0 [-b/--branch branch]"
+    echo "usage: $0 [-b/--branch branch] [-t/--tmpdir tmp-dir] "
 }
 
-CLEAN_TMPDIR=true
 USE_REMOTE_REPOS=false
 FROM=production
 TO=staging
 HOSTS=()
 OCTOCATALOG_DIFF_ARGS=
 R10K_ARGS=
-CLEAN_TMPDIR=false
 UNCOMMITTED=false
+# default value
+TMPDIR=/var/tmp/puppet
 
 while (( "$#" )); do
     case "$1" in
+        -t|--tmpdir)
+            TMPDIR=$2
+            shift
+            ;;
         -b|--branch)
             BRANCH=$2
             shift
@@ -36,9 +40,8 @@
     shift
 done
 
-TMPDIR=/tmp/puppet
-mkdir -p /tmp/puppet
-rm -rf /tmp/puppet/environments/
+mkdir -p $TMPDIR
+rm -rf $TMPDIR/environments/
 
 function template {
     sed -e "s#@PUPPET_ENV@#${PUPPET_ENV}#g" -e "s#@TMPDIR@#${TMPDIR}#g" $1 > $2
diff --git a/bin/sync-vagrant-conf b/bin/sync-vagrant-conf
--- a/bin/sync-vagrant-conf
+++ b/bin/sync-vagrant-conf
@@ -8,9 +8,10 @@
 set -ex
 
 WD=$(dirname $0)
+TMPDIR=${1-/var/tmp/puppet}
 
-if [ ! -d /tmp/puppet ]; then
-    $WD/prepare-vagrant-conf
+if [ ! -d $TMPDIR ]; then
+    $WD/prepare-vagrant-conf --tmpdir $TMPDIR
 fi
 
-$WD/watch-vagrant-conf
+$WD/watch-vagrant-conf $TMPDIR
diff --git a/bin/watch-vagrant-conf b/bin/watch-vagrant-conf
--- a/bin/watch-vagrant-conf
+++ b/bin/watch-vagrant-conf
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 set -e
 
+TMPDIR=${1-/var/tmp/puppet}
 PUPPET_ENV=$(readlink -f $(dirname $0)/..)
 
 RSYNC_PARAMS="-a --progress"
@@ -17,9 +18,9 @@
 
 function sync_puppet_conf {
     branch=$1
-    rsync $RSYNC_PARAMS $EXCLUDES_PARAMS swh-site/data/ /tmp/puppet/environments/${branch}/data
-    rsync $RSYNC_PARAMS $EXCLUDES_PARAMS swh-site/site-modules/ /tmp/puppet/environments/${branch}/site-modules/
-    rsync $RSYNC_PARAMS $EXCLUDES_PARAMS private/swh-private-data-censored/ /tmp/puppet/environments/${branch}/data/private
+    rsync $RSYNC_PARAMS $EXCLUDES_PARAMS swh-site/data/ $TMPDIR/environments/${branch}/data
+    rsync $RSYNC_PARAMS $EXCLUDES_PARAMS swh-site/site-modules/ $TMPDIR/environments/${branch}/site-modules/
+    rsync $RSYNC_PARAMS $EXCLUDES_PARAMS private/swh-private-data-censored/ $TMPDIR/environments/${branch}/data/private
 }
 
 # Initial sync