diff --git a/src/execute/rmd.ts b/src/execute/rmd.ts
index 3e44f8e7387..97b747a5b0d 100644
--- a/src/execute/rmd.ts
+++ b/src/execute/rmd.ts
@@ -272,11 +272,19 @@ async function callR<T>(
     wd: cwd,
   });
 
+  // QUARTO_KNITR_RSCRIPT_ARGS allows to pass additional arguments to Rscript as comma separated values
+  // e.g. QUARTO_KNITR_RSCRIPT_ARGS="--vanilla,--no-init-file,--max-connections=258"
+  const rscriptArgs = Deno.env.get("QUARTO_KNITR_RSCRIPT_ARGS") || "";
+  const rscriptArgsArray = rscriptArgs.split(",").filter((a) =>
+    a.trim() !== ""
+  );
+
   try {
     const result = await execProcess(
       {
         cmd: [
           await rBinaryPath("Rscript"),
+          ...rscriptArgsArray,
           resourcePath("rmd/rmd.R"),
         ],
         cwd,
diff --git a/tests/smoke/render/render-required.test.ts b/tests/smoke/render/render-required.test.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 4cb83d36bb3..00000000000
--- a/tests/smoke/render/render-required.test.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,50 +0,0 @@
-/*
-* render-callout.test.ts
-*
-* Copyright (C) 2020-2022 Posit Software, PBC
-*
-*/
-
-import { testQuartoCmd } from "../../test.ts";
-import { docs } from "../../utils.ts";
-import { printsMessage } from "../../verify.ts";
-
-const input = docs("quarto-required.qmd");
-
-testQuartoCmd(
-  "render",
-  [input],
-  [printsMessage("ERROR", /does not satisfy version/)]
-);
-
-let oldVersionRequirement: string | undefined;
-let originalDenoExit: typeof Deno.exit;
-
-testQuartoCmd(
-  "render",
-  [input, "--to", "html+norequire"],
-  [printsMessage("ERROR", /does not meet semver requirement/)],
-  {
-    setup: async () => {
-      // Save current version of QUARTO_VERSION_REQUIREMENT env var and set it to a value that will not be satisfied
-      oldVersionRequirement = Deno.env.get("QUARTO_VERSION_REQUIREMENT");
-      Deno.env.set("QUARTO_VERSION_REQUIREMENT", "< 0.0.0");
-      // Mock Deno.exit to throw an error instead of exiting
-      // Otherwise we would not check the error assertion
-      originalDenoExit = Deno.exit;
-      Deno.exit = (code?: number) => {
-        throw new Error(`Deno.exit called with code: ${code}`);
-      };
-    },
-    teardown: async () => {
-      // Restore QUARTO_VERSION_REQUIREMENT
-      if (oldVersionRequirement) {
-        Deno.env.set("QUARTO_VERSION_REQUIREMENT", oldVersionRequirement);
-      } else {
-        Deno.env.delete("QUARTO_VERSION_REQUIREMENT");
-      }
-      // Restore Deno.exit
-      Deno.exit = originalDenoExit;
-    },
-  }
-);
diff --git a/tests/utils.ts b/tests/utils.ts
index 5fc579ff0a8..9808520eaa0 100644
--- a/tests/utils.ts
+++ b/tests/utils.ts
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ export function outputForInput(
     if (baseFormat === "revealjs") {
       outputExt = "html";
     }
-    if (["commonmark", "gfm", "markdown"].some((f) => f === baseFormat)) {
+    if (["commonmark", "gfm", "markdown", "markdown_strict"].some((f) => f === baseFormat)) {
       outputExt = "md";
     }
     if (baseFormat === "csljson") {
@@ -189,4 +189,5 @@ export function fileLoader(...path: string[]) {
 // On Windows, `quarto.cmd` needs to be explicit in `execProcess()`
 export function quartoDevCmd(): string {
   return Deno.build.os === "windows" ? "quarto.cmd" : "quarto";
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
+