diff --git a/live_illustrate/__main__.py b/live_illustrate/__main__.py
index 11f1f88..743f3b8 100644
--- a/live_illustrate/__main__.py
+++ b/live_illustrate/__main__.py
@@ -80,6 +80,11 @@ def get_args() -> argparse.Namespace:
         type=float,
         help="How much of the previous transcription to retain after generating each summary. 0 - 1.0",
     )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--oneshot",
+        type=argparse.FileType("r"),
+        help="Read transcription lines from a text file and render. Useful for testing.",
+    )
     parser.add_argument("-v", "--verbose", action="count", default=0)
     return parser.parse_args()
 
@@ -93,8 +98,11 @@ def main() -> None:
     logging.getLogger("requests").setLevel(logging.INFO if args.verbose > 0 else logging.WARNING)
     logging.getLogger("werkzeug").setLevel(logging.INFO if args.verbose > 0 else logging.WARNING)  # flask
 
-    # create each of our thread objects with the apppropriate command line args
-    transcriber = AudioTranscriber(model=args.audio_model, phrase_timeout=args.wait_minutes * args.phrase_timeout)
+    # We don't test transcription in oneshot mode
+    if not (is_oneshot := args.oneshot is not None):
+        transcriber = AudioTranscriber(model=args.audio_model, phrase_timeout=args.wait_minutes * args.phrase_timeout)
+
+    # Create each of our thread objects with the apppropriate command line args
     buffer = TextBuffer(
         wait_minutes=args.wait_minutes, max_context=args.max_context, persistence=args.persistence_of_memory
     )
@@ -127,7 +135,8 @@ def on_image_rendered(image: Image | None) -> None:
                 session_data.save_image(image)
 
         # start each thread with the appropriate callback
-        Thread(target=transcriber.start, args=(on_text_transcribed,), daemon=True).start()
+        if not is_oneshot:
+            Thread(target=transcriber.start, args=(on_text_transcribed,), daemon=True).start()
         Thread(target=summarizer.start, args=(on_summary_generated,), daemon=True).start()
         Thread(target=renderer.start, args=(on_image_rendered,), daemon=True).start()
 
@@ -145,6 +154,12 @@ def open_browser() -> None:
 
             Thread(target=lambda: open_browser).start()
 
+        if is_oneshot:
+            # Read all the lines from the file, pretend we transcribed them
+            for line in args.oneshot:  # type: ignore
+                # This will still dump things in the data directory. No sense short circuiting the testing.
+                on_text_transcribed(Transcription(line.strip()))
+
         # flask feels like it probably has a good ctrl+c handler, so we'll make this one the main thread
         server.start()