diff --git a/src/dvclive/env.py b/src/dvclive/env.py
index 4b26b651..5230397f 100644
--- a/src/dvclive/env.py
+++ b/src/dvclive/env.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 DVCLIVE_LOGLEVEL = "DVCLIVE_LOGLEVEL"
 DVCLIVE_OPEN = "DVCLIVE_OPEN"
 DVCLIVE_RESUME = "DVCLIVE_RESUME"
-DVC_CHECKPOINT = "DVC_CHECKPOINT"
+DVCLIVE_TEST = "DVCLIVE_TEST"
 DVC_EXP_BASELINE_REV = "DVC_EXP_BASELINE_REV"
 DVC_EXP_NAME = "DVC_EXP_NAME"
 DVC_ROOT = "DVC_ROOT"
diff --git a/src/dvclive/live.py b/src/dvclive/live.py
index 3cb6dce8..9fa81f0d 100644
--- a/src/dvclive/live.py
+++ b/src/dvclive/live.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 import math
 import os
 import shutil
+import tempfile
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional, Set, Union
 
@@ -83,8 +84,6 @@ def __init__(
         self._dvcyaml = dvcyaml
         self._cache_images = cache_images
 
-        os.makedirs(self.dir, exist_ok=True)
-
         self._report_mode: Optional[str] = report
         self._report_notebook = None
         self._init_report()
@@ -97,7 +96,12 @@ def __init__(
         self._inside_dvc_pipeline: bool = False
         self._dvc_repo = None
         self._include_untracked: List[str] = []
-        self._init_dvc()
+        if env2bool(env.DVCLIVE_TEST):
+            self._init_test()
+        else:
+            self._init_dvc()
+
+        os.makedirs(self.dir, exist_ok=True)
 
         if self._resume:
             self._init_resume()
@@ -266,6 +270,23 @@ def _init_report(self):
             self._report_mode = None
         logger.debug(f"{self._report_mode=}")
 
+    def _init_test(self):
+        """
+        Enables test mode that writes to temp paths and doesn't depend on repo.
+
+        Needed to run integration tests in external libraries like huggingface
+        accelerate.
+        """
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as dirpath:
+            self._dir = os.path.join(dirpath, self._dir)
+            if isinstance(self._dvcyaml, str):
+                self._dvc_file = os.path.join(dirpath, self._dvcyaml)
+            self._save_dvc_exp = False
+            logger.warning(
+                "DVCLive testing mode enabled."
+                f"Repo will be ignored and output will be written to {dirpath}."
+            )
+
     @property
     def dir(self) -> str:  # noqa: A003
         return self._dir
diff --git a/tests/test_dvc.py b/tests/test_dvc.py
index 73e16465..51ef8f36 100644
--- a/tests/test_dvc.py
+++ b/tests/test_dvc.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 
 from dvclive import Live
 from dvclive.dvc import get_dvc_repo
-from dvclive.env import DVC_EXP_BASELINE_REV, DVC_EXP_NAME, DVC_ROOT
+from dvclive.env import DVC_EXP_BASELINE_REV, DVC_EXP_NAME, DVC_ROOT, DVCLIVE_TEST
 
 
 def test_get_dvc_repo(tmp_dir):
@@ -244,3 +244,14 @@ def test_get_exp_name_duplicate(tmp_dir, mocked_dvc_repo, mocker, caplog):
     assert live._exp_name == "random"
     msg = "Experiment conflicts with existing experiment 'duplicate'."
     assert msg in caplog.text
+
+
+def test_test_mode(tmp_dir, monkeypatch, mocked_dvc_repo):
+    monkeypatch.setenv(DVCLIVE_TEST, "true")
+    live = Live("dir", dvcyaml="dvc.yaml")
+    live.make_dvcyaml()
+    assert live._dir != "dir"
+    assert live._dvc_file != "dvc.yaml"
+    assert live._save_dvc_exp is False
+    assert not os.path.exists("dir")
+    assert not os.path.exists("dvc.yaml")