diff --git a/scripts/diff_jsons.py b/scripts/diff_jsons.py
index ece69de4d..ce215e855 100644
--- a/scripts/diff_jsons.py
+++ b/scripts/diff_jsons.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
     parser.add_argument("--significant-digits", type=int, default=5, help="number of significant digits to use when comparing numeric values")
     parser.add_argument("--exclude-paths", nargs="+", help="list of paths to exclude from consideration when performing a diff", default=["root['generated_by']['version']"])
     parser.add_argument("--exclude-regex-paths", nargs="+", help="list of path regular expressions to exclude from consideration when performing a diff")
+    parser.add_argument("--ignore-numeric-type-changes", action="store_true", help="ignore numeric type changes in the diff (e.g., int of 1 to float of 1.0)")
 
     args = parser.parse_args()
 
@@ -31,5 +32,6 @@
             significant_digits=args.significant_digits,
             exclude_paths=args.exclude_paths,
             exclude_regex_paths=args.exclude_regex_paths,
+            ignore_numeric_type_changes=args.ignore_numeric_type_changes,
         )
     )
diff --git a/tests/functional/export_v2/cram/minimal.t b/tests/functional/export_v2/cram/minimal.t
index a423a393a..9fd1c1eda 100644
--- a/tests/functional/export_v2/cram/minimal.t
+++ b/tests/functional/export_v2/cram/minimal.t
@@ -16,12 +16,10 @@ Minimal export -- single input (tree) and single output (dataset JSON)
   
 
 The above minimal.json takes divergence from the newick file. This converts newick divergences of (e.g.) '1' to `1.0`
-because BioPython uses floats (which is perfectly reasonable). Remove the decimal to diff the JSON.
+because BioPython uses floats (which is perfectly reasonable). Ignore this type change in the JSON diff.
 (Note that Auspice won't behave any differently)
-  $ sed 's/\.0//' minimal.json > minimal.no-decimal.json
 
-
-  $ python3 "$TESTDIR/../../../../scripts/diff_jsons.py"  "$TESTDIR/../data/minimal.json" minimal.no-decimal.json \
+  $ python3 "$TESTDIR/../../../../scripts/diff_jsons.py" --ignore-numeric-type-changes "$TESTDIR/../data/minimal.json" minimal.json \
   >   --exclude-paths "root['meta']['updated']"
   {}