diff --git a/pkg/skaffold/debug/transform_go.go b/pkg/skaffold/debug/transform_go.go
index c85c8b0bcf6..6dbe83874ea 100644
--- a/pkg/skaffold/debug/transform_go.go
+++ b/pkg/skaffold/debug/transform_go.go
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ func isLaunchingDlv(args []string) bool {
 }
 
 func (t dlvTransformer) IsApplicable(config ImageConfiguration) bool {
-	for _, name := range []string{"GODEBUG", "GOGC", "GOMAXPROCS", "GOTRACEBACK"} {
+	for _, name := range []string{"GODEBUG", "GOGC", "GOMAXPROCS", "GOTRACEBACK", "KO_DATA_PATH"} {
 		if _, found := config.Env[name]; found {
 			log.Entry(context.TODO()).Infof("Artifact %q has Go runtime: has env %q", config.Artifact, name)
 			return true
diff --git a/pkg/skaffold/debug/transform_go_test.go b/pkg/skaffold/debug/transform_go_test.go
index 2eaf37973fe..a9f51c6ec89 100644
--- a/pkg/skaffold/debug/transform_go_test.go
+++ b/pkg/skaffold/debug/transform_go_test.go
@@ -86,6 +86,12 @@ func TestDlvTransformer_IsApplicable(t *testing.T) {
 			source:      ImageConfiguration{Env: map[string]string{"GOTRACEBACK": "off"}},
 			result:      true,
 		},
+		{
+			// detect images built by ko: https://github.com/google/ko#static-assets
+			description: "KO_DATA_PATH",
+			source:      ImageConfiguration{Env: map[string]string{"KO_DATA_PATH": "cmd/app/kodata/"}},
+			result:      true,
+		},
 		{
 			description: "entrypoint with dlv",
 			source:      ImageConfiguration{Entrypoint: []string{"dlv", "exec", "--headless"}},