diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ad6b910..d9df2a8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -137,6 +137,20 @@ generations = dalle.generate_from_masked_image(
 🙌 Task completed!
 ```
 
+## Dry runs
+
+If you are playing around and don't want to waste credits, you can use the dry run option, eg
+
+```
+dalle.generate(..., dry=True)
+dalle.generate_amount(...., dry=True)
+dalle.generate_and_download(...., dry=True)
+```
+
+This will circumvent the call to openAI but will still generate some random data so if you use the
+output of `generate` to `download`, it will download random images.
+
+
 # Other languages
 
 [Nodejs Package](https://github.com/ezzcodeezzlife/dalle-node)
diff --git a/src/dalle2/dalle2.py b/src/dalle2/dalle2.py
index 44bd126..505496b 100644
--- a/src/dalle2/dalle2.py
+++ b/src/dalle2/dalle2.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 import time
 import urllib
 import urllib.request
+import uuid
 
 from pathlib import Path
 
@@ -16,7 +17,7 @@ def __init__(self, bearer):
         self.inpainting_batch_size = 3
         self.task_sleep_seconds = 3
 
-    def generate(self, prompt):
+    def generate(self, prompt, dry=False):
         body = {
             "task_type": "text2im",
             "prompt": {
@@ -25,22 +26,22 @@ def generate(self, prompt):
             }
         }
 
-        return self.get_task_response(body)
+        return self.get_task_response(body, dry=dry)
 
-    def generate_and_download(self, prompt, image_dir=os.getcwd()):
-        generations = self.generate(prompt)
+    def generate_and_download(self, prompt, image_dir=os.getcwd(), dry=False):
+        generations = self.generate(prompt, dry=dry)
         if not generations:
             return None
 
         return self.download(generations, image_dir)
 
-    def generate_amount(self, prompt, amount):
+    def generate_amount(self, prompt, amount, dry=False):
         if amount < self.batch_size:
             raise ValueError(f"passed amount of {amount} cannot be smaller than the batch size of {self.batch_size}")
 
-        return [self.generate(prompt) for _ in range(math.ceil(amount / self.batch_size))]
+        return [self.generate(prompt, dry=dry) for _ in range(math.ceil(amount / self.batch_size))]
 
-    def generate_from_masked_image(self, prompt, image_path):
+    def generate_from_masked_image(self, prompt, image_path, dry=False):
         with open(image_path, "rb") as f:
             image_base64 = base64.b64encode(f.read())
 
@@ -54,16 +55,22 @@ def generate_from_masked_image(self, prompt, image_path):
             }
         }
 
-        return self.get_task_response(body)
+        return self.get_task_response(body, dry=dry)
 
-    def get_task_response(self, body):
+    def get_task_response(self, body, dry=False):
         url = "https://labs.openai.com/api/labs/tasks"
         headers = {
             'Authorization': "Bearer " + self.bearer,
             'Content-Type': "application/json",
         }
 
-        response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, data=json.dumps(body))
+        if dry:
+            return [{  # fake openai response so download() still works
+                'id': str(uuid.uuid4()),
+                'generation': {'image_path': 'https://picsum.photos/200'}
+            } for _ in range(4)]
+        else:
+            response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, data=json.dumps(body))
         if response.status_code != 200:
             print(response.text)
             return None