diff --git a/crates/index-scheduler/src/index_mapper/index_map.rs b/crates/index-scheduler/src/index_mapper/index_map.rs
index 3031043a9..8324eefd0 100644
--- a/crates/index-scheduler/src/index_mapper/index_map.rs
+++ b/crates/index-scheduler/src/index_mapper/index_map.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 use std::collections::BTreeMap;
+use std::env::VarError;
 use std::path::Path;
+use std::str::FromStr;
 use std::time::Duration;
 
 use meilisearch_types::heed::{EnvClosingEvent, EnvFlags, EnvOpenOptions};
@@ -304,7 +306,15 @@ fn create_or_open_index(
 ) -> Result<Index> {
     let mut options = EnvOpenOptions::new();
     options.map_size(clamp_to_page_size(map_size));
-    options.max_readers(1024);
+
+    let max_readers = match std::env::var("MEILI_EXPERIMENTAL_INDEX_MAX_READERS") {
+        Ok(value) => u32::from_str(&value).unwrap(),
+        Err(VarError::NotPresent) => 1024,
+        Err(VarError::NotUnicode(value)) => panic!(
+            "Invalid unicode for the `MEILI_EXPERIMENTAL_INDEX_MAX_READERS` env var: {value:?}"
+        ),
+    };
+    options.max_readers(max_readers);
     if enable_mdb_writemap {
         unsafe { options.flags(EnvFlags::WRITE_MAP) };
     }