diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index f84acf44..9a385e86 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -386,7 +386,11 @@ func main() {
 				},
 				cli.BoolFlag{
 					Name:  "retain-values-files",
-					Usage: "Stop cleaning up values files passed to Helm. Together with --log-level=debug, you can manually rerun helm commands as Helmfile did for debugging purpose",
+					Usage: "DEPRECATED: Use skip-cleanup instead",
+				},
+				cli.BoolFlag{
+					Name:  "skip-cleanup",
+					Usage: "Stop cleaning up temporary values generated by helmfile and helm-secrets. Useful for debugging. Don't use in production for security",
 				},
 				cli.BoolFlag{
 					Name:  "include-tests",
@@ -725,6 +729,10 @@ func (c configImpl) Context() int {
 	return c.c.Int("context")
 }
 
+func (c configImpl) SkipCleanup() bool {
+	return c.c.Bool("skip-cleanup")
+}
+
 func (c configImpl) EmbedValues() bool {
 	return c.c.Bool("embed-values")
 }
diff --git a/pkg/app/app.go b/pkg/app/app.go
index 80a2b09c..1c0e754f 100644
--- a/pkg/app/app.go
+++ b/pkg/app/app.go
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ func (a *App) Apply(c ApplyConfigProvider) error {
 
 	var opts []LoadOption
 
-	opts = append(opts, SetRetainValuesFiles(c.RetainValuesFiles()))
+	opts = append(opts, SetRetainValuesFiles(c.RetainValuesFiles() || c.SkipCleanup()))
 
 	err := a.ForEachState(func(run *Run) (ok bool, errs []error) {
 		prepErr := run.withPreparedCharts("apply", state.ChartPrepareOptions{
@@ -1059,9 +1059,10 @@ func (a *App) apply(r *Run, c ApplyConfigProvider) (bool, bool, []error) {
 	detailedExitCode := true
 
 	diffOpts := &state.DiffOpts{
-		NoColor: c.NoColor(),
-		Context: c.Context(),
-		Set:     c.Set(),
+		NoColor:     c.NoColor(),
+		Context:     c.Context(),
+		Set:         c.Set(),
+		SkipCleanup: c.RetainValuesFiles() || c.SkipCleanup(),
 	}
 
 	infoMsg, releasesToBeUpdated, releasesToBeDeleted, errs := r.diff(false, detailedExitCode, c, diffOpts)
@@ -1150,7 +1151,8 @@ Do you really want to apply?
 				subst.Releases = rs
 
 				syncOpts := state.SyncOpts{
-					Set: c.Set(),
+					Set:         c.Set(),
+					SkipCleanup: c.RetainValuesFiles() || c.SkipCleanup(),
 				}
 				return subst.SyncReleases(&affectedReleases, helm, c.Values(), c.Concurrency(), &syncOpts)
 			}))
diff --git a/pkg/app/app_test.go b/pkg/app/app_test.go
index 8c126a2e..b36fb159 100644
--- a/pkg/app/app_test.go
+++ b/pkg/app/app_test.go
@@ -2298,6 +2298,7 @@ type applyConfig struct {
 	retainValuesFiles bool
 	set               []string
 	validate          bool
+	skipCleanup       bool
 	skipDeps          bool
 	includeTests      bool
 	suppressSecrets   bool
@@ -2326,6 +2327,10 @@ func (a applyConfig) Validate() bool {
 	return a.validate
 }
 
+func (a applyConfig) SkipCleanup() bool {
+	return a.skipCleanup
+}
+
 func (a applyConfig) SkipDeps() bool {
 	return a.skipDeps
 }
diff --git a/pkg/app/config.go b/pkg/app/config.go
index 484ee606..a5d27f2b 100644
--- a/pkg/app/config.go
+++ b/pkg/app/config.go
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ type ApplyConfigProvider interface {
 	Context() int
 
 	RetainValuesFiles() bool
+	SkipCleanup() bool
 
 	concurrencyConfig
 	interactive
diff --git a/pkg/state/state.go b/pkg/state/state.go
index 8a655bc8..591392e8 100644
--- a/pkg/state/state.go
+++ b/pkg/state/state.go
@@ -535,7 +535,8 @@ func (st *HelmState) DetectReleasesToBeDeleted(helm helmexec.Interface, releases
 }
 
 type SyncOpts struct {
-	Set []string
+	Set         []string
+	SkipCleanup bool
 }
 
 type SyncOpt interface{ Apply(*SyncOpts) }
@@ -1549,6 +1550,8 @@ type DiffOpts struct {
 	Context int
 	NoColor bool
 	Set     []string
+
+	SkipCleanup bool
 }
 
 func (o *DiffOpts) Apply(opts *DiffOpts) {