diff --git a/README-zh.md b/README-zh.md
index 36ba3f67..f6e6a484 100644
--- a/README-zh.md
+++ b/README-zh.md
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ buildscript {
         jcenter()
     }
     dependencies {
-        classpath 'com.uber:okbuck:0.53.2'
+        classpath 'com.uber:okbuck:0.53.3'
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b2fab055..8ee1f176 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ buildscript {
         jcenter()
     }
     dependencies {
-        classpath 'com.uber:okbuck:0.53.2'
+        classpath 'com.uber:okbuck:0.53.3'
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/Usage.md b/Usage.md
index 9b93a8db..d75b18db 100644
--- a/Usage.md
+++ b/Usage.md
@@ -62,6 +62,11 @@ okbuck {
     experimental {
         transform = true
     }
+    
+    externalDependencies {
+        cache = "3rdparty/jvm"
+        cleanCacheDir = true
+    }
 }
 
 dependencies {
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/java/com/uber/okbuck/core/manager/DependencyManager.java b/buildSrc/src/main/java/com/uber/okbuck/core/manager/DependencyManager.java
index d6fb7d85..efb84c15 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/java/com/uber/okbuck/core/manager/DependencyManager.java
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/java/com/uber/okbuck/core/manager/DependencyManager.java
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 package com.uber.okbuck.core.manager;
 
+import static com.uber.okbuck.core.dependency.OResolvedDependency.AAR;
+import static com.uber.okbuck.core.dependency.OResolvedDependency.JAR;
+
 import com.google.common.base.Joiner;
 import com.google.common.base.Preconditions;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
@@ -28,14 +31,6 @@
 import com.uber.okbuck.extension.OkBuckExtension;
 import com.uber.okbuck.template.common.BazelFunctionRule;
 import com.uber.okbuck.template.core.Rule;
-import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
-import org.gradle.api.Project;
-import org.gradle.api.artifacts.Configuration;
-import org.gradle.api.artifacts.Dependency;
-import org.gradle.api.artifacts.ExternalDependency;
-import org.gradle.api.artifacts.ResolvedConfiguration;
-import org.gradle.api.artifacts.ResolvedDependency;
-
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
@@ -49,9 +44,12 @@
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 import java.util.stream.IntStream;
-
-import static com.uber.okbuck.core.dependency.OResolvedDependency.AAR;
-import static com.uber.okbuck.core.dependency.OResolvedDependency.JAR;
+import org.gradle.api.Project;
+import org.gradle.api.artifacts.Configuration;
+import org.gradle.api.artifacts.Dependency;
+import org.gradle.api.artifacts.ExternalDependency;
+import org.gradle.api.artifacts.ResolvedConfiguration;
+import org.gradle.api.artifacts.ResolvedDependency;
 
 public class DependencyManager {
 
@@ -72,9 +70,10 @@ public class DependencyManager {
   private final DependencyExporter dependencyExporter;
 
   public DependencyManager(
-      Project rootProject, OkBuckExtension okBuckExtension, BuckFileManager buckFileManager,
+      Project rootProject,
+      OkBuckExtension okBuckExtension,
+      BuckFileManager buckFileManager,
       DependencyExporter dependencyExporter) {
-
     this.project = rootProject;
     this.externalDependenciesExtension = okBuckExtension.getExternalDependenciesExtension();
     this.jetifierExtension = okBuckExtension.getJetifierExtension();
@@ -390,17 +389,10 @@ private void processDependencies(
       OkBuckExtension okBuckExtension) {
     Path rootPath = project.getRootDir().toPath();
     File cacheDir = rootPath.resolve(externalDependenciesExtension.getCache()).toFile();
-    if (cacheDir.exists()) {
-      try {
-        FileUtils.deleteDirectory(cacheDir);
-      } catch (IOException e) {
-        throw new IllegalStateException("Could not delete dependency directory: " + cacheDir, e);
-      }
-    }
-
-    if (!cacheDir.mkdirs()) {
-      throw new IllegalStateException("Couldn't create dependency directory: " + cacheDir);
-    }
+    FileUtil.deleteQuitelyAndCreate(
+        cacheDir,
+        externalDependenciesExtension.shouldCleanCacheDir(),
+        okBuckExtension.buildFileName);
 
     Map<Path, List<OExternalDependency>> groupToDependencyMap =
         dependencyMap
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/java/com/uber/okbuck/core/util/FileUtil.java b/buildSrc/src/main/java/com/uber/okbuck/core/util/FileUtil.java
index 2d6dbad1..6595981a 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/java/com/uber/okbuck/core/util/FileUtil.java
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/java/com/uber/okbuck/core/util/FileUtil.java
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.stream.Stream;
 import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
+import org.apache.commons.io.filefilter.NameFileFilter;
+import org.apache.commons.io.filefilter.TrueFileFilter;
 import org.gradle.api.Project;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
@@ -156,4 +158,26 @@ public static void persistMapToJsonFile(HashMap<String, String> map, File file)
     writer.flush();
     writer.close();
   }
+
+  public static void deleteQuitelyAndCreate(File dir, boolean deleteDir, String fileName) {
+
+    // Clean the dir, if it exists, based on deleteDir config
+    if (dir.exists()) {
+      if (deleteDir) {
+        try {
+          FileUtils.deleteDirectory(dir);
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+          throw new IllegalStateException("Could not delete dependency directory: " + dir, e);
+        }
+      } else {
+        FileUtils.listFiles(dir, new NameFileFilter(fileName), TrueFileFilter.INSTANCE)
+            .parallelStream()
+            .forEach(FileUtils::deleteQuietly);
+      }
+    }
+
+    if (!dir.exists() && !dir.mkdirs()) {
+      throw new IllegalStateException("Couldn't create dependency directory: " + dir);
+    }
+  }
 }
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/java/com/uber/okbuck/extension/ExternalDependenciesExtension.java b/buildSrc/src/main/java/com/uber/okbuck/extension/ExternalDependenciesExtension.java
index 690bdd03..b13a8c8a 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/java/com/uber/okbuck/extension/ExternalDependenciesExtension.java
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/java/com/uber/okbuck/extension/ExternalDependenciesExtension.java
@@ -16,6 +16,12 @@ public class ExternalDependenciesExtension {
   /** Specifies the folder where all external dependency rules gets generated. */
   @Input private String cache = ".okbuck/ext";
 
+  /**
+   * Specifies to delete the cache dir, before generating dependency rules If set to false, only
+   * deletes the existing dependency rules files.
+   */
+  @Input private boolean cleanCacheDir = true;
+
   /** Specifies whether the external dependencies should be downloaded by buck or not. */
   @Input private boolean downloadInBuck = true;
 
@@ -46,7 +52,8 @@ public class ExternalDependenciesExtension {
    * dependencies like robolectric runtime deps.
    */
   @Input
-  private List<String> allowAllVersions = Collections.singletonList("org.robolectric:android-all-instrumented");
+  private List<String> allowAllVersions =
+      Collections.singletonList("org.robolectric:android-all-instrumented");
 
   /**
    * Stores the dependency versions to be used for dynamic notations that have , or + in their
@@ -172,4 +179,8 @@ public boolean bazelDepsEnabled() {
   public String getSha256Cache() {
     return sha256Cache;
   }
+
+  public boolean shouldCleanCacheDir() {
+    return cleanCacheDir;
+  }
 }