diff --git a/src/axolotl/core/trainer_builder.py b/src/axolotl/core/trainer_builder.py
index 2f38b12dc..b973e5cc3 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/core/trainer_builder.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/core/trainer_builder.py
@@ -993,6 +993,9 @@ class HFCausalTrainerBuilder(TrainerBuilderBase):
             return ReLoRATrainer
         if self.cfg.model_config_type == "mamba":
             return AxolotlMambaTrainer
+        if self.cfg.custom_trainer_cls:
+            _module, _cls = self.cfg.custom_trainer_cls.rsplit(".", 1)
+            return importlib.import_module(_module, _cls)
         return AxolotlTrainer
 
     def build(self, total_num_steps):
diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/config/models/input/v0_4_1/__init__.py b/src/axolotl/utils/config/models/input/v0_4_1/__init__.py
index f1c12b2ba..a0a2fd1e5 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/utils/config/models/input/v0_4_1/__init__.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/config/models/input/v0_4_1/__init__.py
@@ -561,6 +561,8 @@ class AxolotlInputConfig(
     torch_compile: Optional[bool] = None
     torch_compile_backend: Optional[str] = None
 
+    custom_trainer_cls: Optional[str] = None
+
     max_steps: Optional[int] = None
     warmup_steps: Optional[int] = None
     warmup_ratio: Optional[float] = None