diff --git a/internal/client/client.go b/internal/client/client.go
index b2b7ce53..7fd8a617 100644
--- a/internal/client/client.go
+++ b/internal/client/client.go
@@ -113,5 +113,17 @@ func DialOptsFromFlags(cmd *cobra.Command, token storage.Token) ([]grpc.DialOpti
 		opts = append(opts, grpc.WithAuthority(hostnameOverride))
 	}
 
+	maxMessageSize := cobrautil.MustGetInt(cmd, "max-message-size")
+	if maxMessageSize != 0 {
+		opts = append(opts, grpc.WithDefaultCallOptions(
+			// The default max client message size is 4mb.
+			// It's conceivable that a sufficiently complex
+			// schema will easily surpass this, so we set the
+			// limit higher here.
+			grpc.MaxCallRecvMsgSize(maxMessageSize),
+			grpc.MaxCallSendMsgSize(maxMessageSize),
+		))
+	}
+
 	return opts, nil
 }
diff --git a/internal/cmd/cmd.go b/internal/cmd/cmd.go
index 86c5135c..2f55784b 100644
--- a/internal/cmd/cmd.go
+++ b/internal/cmd/cmd.go
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ func Run() {
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().Bool("no-verify-ca", false, "do not attempt to verify the server's certificate chain and host name")
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().Bool("debug", false, "enable debug logging")
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().String("request-id", "", "optional id to send along with SpiceDB requests for tracing")
+	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().Int("max-message-size", 0, "maximum size in bytes (defaults to 4mb) of a gRPC message that can be sent or received by zed")
 	_ = rootCmd.PersistentFlags().MarkHidden("debug") // This cannot return its error.
 
 	versionCmd := &cobra.Command{