diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index d086e5c0..f2029db6 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -72,5 +72,5 @@ Suggests:
     box (>= 1.2.0)
 License: MIT + file LICENSE
 VignetteBuilder: knitr
-RoxygenNote: 7.2.3
+RoxygenNote: 7.3.1
 Roxygen: list(markdown = TRUE)
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 1d6f97a1..3041da42 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 # covr (development version)
 
+* Added `code_stdout` option to `package_coverage()` which allows code output to print to the console while running
+
 * Added support for `klmr/box` modules. This works best with `file_coverage()`. (@radbasa, #491)
 
 # covr 3.6.4
diff --git a/R/covr.R b/R/covr.R
index 106d8f03..82108972 100644
--- a/R/covr.R
+++ b/R/covr.R
@@ -350,6 +350,9 @@ environment_coverage <- function(
 #'   and tests run in. By default it is a path in the R sessions temporary
 #'   directory. It can sometimes be useful to set this (along with `clean =
 #'   FALSE`) to help debug test failures.
+#' @param code_stdout When running code specified in the `code` argument, whether to
+#' use Rscript so that the console updates live (defaults to FALSE, using R CMD BATCH,
+#' and only showing the output after all tests have run when there is a failure)
 #' @seealso [exclusions()] For details on excluding parts of the
 #' package from the coverage calculations.
 #' @export
@@ -364,7 +367,7 @@ package_coverage <- function(path = ".",
                              code = character(),
                              install_path = temp_file("R_LIBS"),
                              ...,
-                             exclusions, pre_clean=TRUE) {
+                             exclusions, pre_clean=TRUE, code_stdout = FALSE) {
 
   if (!missing(exclusions)) {
     warning(
@@ -501,7 +504,7 @@ package_coverage <- function(path = ".",
 
       # We always run the commands file (even if empty) to load the package and
       # initialize all the counters to 0.
-      run_commands(pkg, install_path, code)
+      run_commands(pkg, install_path, code, code_stdout)
     },
     message = function(e) if (quiet) invokeRestart("muffleMessage") else e,
     warning = function(e) if (quiet) invokeRestart("muffleWarning") else e)
@@ -735,20 +738,30 @@ run_vignettes <- function(pkg, lib) {
   }
 }
 
-run_commands <- function(pkg, lib, commands) {
+run_commands <- function(pkg, lib, commands, code_stdout = FALSE) {
   outfile <- file.path(lib, paste0(pkg$package, "-commands.Rout"))
   failfile <- paste(outfile, "fail", sep = "." )
   writeLines(c(
     paste0("library('", pkg$package, "')"),
     commands), con = outfile)
-  cmd <- paste(shQuote(file.path(R.home("bin"), "R")),
-               "CMD BATCH --vanilla --no-timing",
-               shQuote(outfile), shQuote(failfile))
-  res <- system(cmd)
-  if (res != 0L) {
-    show_failures(dirname(failfile))
+
+  if (!code_stdout) {
+    cmd <- paste(shQuote(file.path(R.home("bin"), "R")),
+                 "CMD BATCH --vanilla --no-timing",
+                 shQuote(outfile), shQuote(failfile))
+    res <- system(cmd)
+    if (res != 0L) {
+      show_failures(dirname(failfile))
+    } else {
+      file.rename(failfile, outfile)
+    }
   } else {
-    file.rename(failfile, outfile)
+    cmd <- paste(shQuote(file.path(R.home("bin"), "Rscript")),
+                 "--vanilla", shQuote(outfile))
+    res <- system(cmd)
+    if (res != 0L) {
+      stop("Failure when running covr commands")
+    }
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/man/package_coverage.Rd b/man/package_coverage.Rd
index c9324ea7..24f45bb0 100644
--- a/man/package_coverage.Rd
+++ b/man/package_coverage.Rd
@@ -17,7 +17,8 @@ package_coverage(
   install_path = temp_file("R_LIBS"),
   ...,
   exclusions,
-  pre_clean = TRUE
+  pre_clean = TRUE,
+  live_stdout = FALSE
 )
 }
 \arguments{
@@ -58,6 +59,10 @@ directory. It can sometimes be useful to set this (along with \code{clean = FALS
 \item{exclusions}{\sQuote{Deprecated}, please use \sQuote{line_exclusions} instead.}
 
 \item{pre_clean}{whether to delete all objects present in the src directory before recompiling}
+
+\item{live_stdout}{When running code specified in the \code{code} argument, whether to
+use Rscript so that the console updates live (defaults to FALSE, using R CMD BATCH,
+and only showing the output after all tests have run when there is a failure)}
 }
 \description{
 This function calculates the test coverage for a development package on the