diff --git a/clients/ui/bff/Makefile b/clients/ui/bff/Makefile
index dec0984d3..7120284bf 100644
--- a/clients/ui/bff/Makefile
+++ b/clients/ui/bff/Makefile
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ IMG ?= model-registry-bff:latest
 PORT ?= 4000
 MOCK_K8S_CLIENT ?= false
 MOCK_MR_CLIENT ?= false
+DEV_MODE ?= false
 # ENVTEST_K8S_VERSION refers to the version of kubebuilder assets to be downloaded by envtest binary.
 ENVTEST_K8S_VERSION = 1.29.0
 
@@ -45,7 +46,7 @@ build: fmt vet test
 .PHONY: run
 run: fmt vet envtest
 	ENVTEST_ASSETS="$(shell $(ENVTEST) use $(ENVTEST_K8S_VERSION) --bin-dir $(LOCALBIN) -p path)" \
-	go run ./cmd/main.go  --port=$(PORT) --mock-k8s-client=$(MOCK_K8S_CLIENT) --mock-mr-client=$(MOCK_MR_CLIENT)
+	go run ./cmd/main.go  --port=$(PORT) --mock-k8s-client=$(MOCK_K8S_CLIENT) --mock-mr-client=$(MOCK_MR_CLIENT) --dev-mode=$(DEV_MODE)
 
 .PHONY: docker-build
 docker-build:
diff --git a/clients/ui/bff/cmd/main.go b/clients/ui/bff/cmd/main.go
index 25c367c3f..58564003c 100644
--- a/clients/ui/bff/cmd/main.go
+++ b/clients/ui/bff/cmd/main.go
@@ -4,11 +4,12 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
-	"github.com/kubeflow/model-registry/ui/bff/internal/api"
-	"github.com/kubeflow/model-registry/ui/bff/internal/config"
 	"os/signal"
 	"syscall"
 
+	"github.com/kubeflow/model-registry/ui/bff/internal/api"
+	"github.com/kubeflow/model-registry/ui/bff/internal/config"
+
 	"log/slog"
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
@@ -21,6 +22,7 @@ func main() {
 	flag.IntVar(&cfg.Port, "port", getEnvAsInt("PORT", 4000), "API server port")
 	flag.BoolVar(&cfg.MockK8Client, "mock-k8s-client", false, "Use mock Kubernetes client")
 	flag.BoolVar(&cfg.MockMRClient, "mock-mr-client", false, "Use mock Model Registry client")
+	flag.BoolVar(&cfg.DevMode, "dev-mode", false, "Use development mode for access to local K8s cluster")
 	flag.Parse()
 
 	logger := slog.New(slog.NewTextHandler(os.Stdout, nil))
diff --git a/clients/ui/bff/internal/api/middleware.go b/clients/ui/bff/internal/api/middleware.go
index 743cd2567..036f004f9 100644
--- a/clients/ui/bff/internal/api/middleware.go
+++ b/clients/ui/bff/internal/api/middleware.go
@@ -3,9 +3,10 @@ package api
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
+	"net/http"
+
 	"github.com/julienschmidt/httprouter"
 	"github.com/kubeflow/model-registry/ui/bff/internal/integrations"
-	"net/http"
 )
 
 type contextKey string
@@ -41,7 +42,7 @@ func (app *App) AttachRESTClient(handler func(http.ResponseWriter, *http.Request
 
 		modelRegistryID := ps.ByName(ModelRegistryId)
 
-		modelRegistryBaseURL, err := resolveModelRegistryURL(modelRegistryID, app.kubernetesClient)
+		modelRegistryBaseURL, err := resolveModelRegistryURL(modelRegistryID, app)
 		if err != nil {
 			app.serverErrorResponse(w, r, fmt.Errorf("failed to resolve model registry base URL): %v", err))
 			return
@@ -83,11 +84,16 @@ func resolveBearerToken(k8s integrations.KubernetesClientInterface, header http.
 	return bearerToken, nil
 }
 
-func resolveModelRegistryURL(id string, client integrations.KubernetesClientInterface) (string, error) {
-	serviceDetails, err := client.GetServiceDetailsByName(id)
+func resolveModelRegistryURL(id string, app *App) (string, error) {
+	serviceDetails, err := app.kubernetesClient.GetServiceDetailsByName(id)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
+
+	if app.config.DevMode {
+		serviceDetails.ClusterIP = "localhost"
+	}
+
 	url := fmt.Sprintf("http://%s:%d/api/model_registry/v1alpha3", serviceDetails.ClusterIP, serviceDetails.HTTPPort)
 	return url, nil
 }
diff --git a/clients/ui/bff/internal/config/environment.go b/clients/ui/bff/internal/config/environment.go
index f7b10bf63..d2b39238e 100644
--- a/clients/ui/bff/internal/config/environment.go
+++ b/clients/ui/bff/internal/config/environment.go
@@ -4,4 +4,5 @@ type EnvConfig struct {
 	Port         int
 	MockK8Client bool
 	MockMRClient bool
+	DevMode      bool
 }