diff --git a/lldb/test/API/CMakeLists.txt b/lldb/test/API/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/lldb/test/API/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/lldb/test/API/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
   ""
   CACHE STRING "Specify additional arguments to pass to test runner. For example: '-C gcc -C clang -A i386 -A x86_64'")
 
-set(LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS
+set(LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS_VAR
   -u CXXFLAGS
   -u CFLAGS
   )
@@ -71,16 +71,16 @@
     CACHE BOOL "(Windows only) Hides the console window for an inferior when it is launched through the test suite")
 
   if (LLDB_TEST_DEBUG_TEST_CRASHES)
-    set(LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS ${LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS} --enable-crash-dialog)
+    set(LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS_VAR ${LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS_VAR} --enable-crash-dialog)
   endif()
 
   if (NOT LLDB_TEST_HIDE_CONSOLE_WINDOWS)
-    set(LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS ${LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS} --show-inferior-console)
+    set(LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS_VAR ${LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS_VAR} --show-inferior-console)
   endif()
 endif()
 
 if (NOT ${CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME} MATCHES "Windows|Darwin")
-  list(APPEND LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS
+  list(APPEND LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS_VAR
     --env ARCHIVER=${CMAKE_AR} --env OBJCOPY=${CMAKE_OBJCOPY})
 endif()
 
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@
   # Use the same identity for testing
   get_property(code_sign_identity_used GLOBAL PROPERTY LLDB_DEBUGSERVER_CODESIGN_IDENTITY)
   if(code_sign_identity_used)
-    list(APPEND LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS --codesign-identity "${code_sign_identity_used}")
+    list(APPEND LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS_VAR --codesign-identity "${code_sign_identity_used}")
   endif()
 
   if(LLDB_USE_SYSTEM_DEBUGSERVER)
@@ -115,20 +115,20 @@
         COMMENT "Copying the system debugserver to LLDB's binaries directory for testing.")
     endif()
     message(STATUS "LLDB tests use out-of-tree debugserver: ${system_debugserver_path}")
-    list(APPEND LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS --out-of-tree-debugserver)
+    list(APPEND LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS_VAR --out-of-tree-debugserver)
     add_lldb_test_dependency(debugserver)
   else()
     message(STATUS "LLDB tests use just-built debug server")
   endif()
 endif()
 
-set(LLDB_DOTEST_ARGS ${LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS};${LLDB_TEST_USER_ARGS} CACHE INTERNAL STRING)
 set(dotest_args_replacement ${LLVM_BUILD_MODE})
 
 if(LLDB_BUILT_STANDALONE)
   # In paths to our build-tree, replace CMAKE_CFG_INTDIR with our configuration name placeholder.
   string(REPLACE ${CMAKE_CFG_INTDIR} ${LLVM_BUILD_MODE} config_runtime_output_dir ${LLVM_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_INTDIR})
-  string(REPLACE ${LLVM_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_INTDIR} ${config_runtime_output_dir} LLDB_DOTEST_ARGS "${LLDB_DOTEST_ARGS}")
+  string(REPLACE ${LLVM_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_INTDIR} ${config_runtime_output_dir} LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS_VAR "${LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS_VAR}")
+  string(REPLACE ${LLVM_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_INTDIR} ${config_runtime_output_dir} LLDB_TEST_USER_ARGS "${LLDB_TEST_USER_ARGS}")
   string(REPLACE ${LLVM_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_INTDIR} ${config_runtime_output_dir} LLDB_SOURCE_DIR "${LLDB_SOURCE_DIR}")
   string(REPLACE ${LLVM_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_INTDIR} ${config_runtime_output_dir} LLDB_FRAMEWORK_DIR "${LLDB_FRAMEWORK_DIR}")
   string(REPLACE ${LLVM_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_INTDIR} ${config_runtime_output_dir} LLDB_TEST_BUILD_DIRECTORY "${LLDB_TEST_BUILD_DIRECTORY}")
@@ -155,13 +155,16 @@
   endif()
 endif()
 
-string(REPLACE ${CMAKE_CFG_INTDIR} ${dotest_args_replacement} LLDB_DOTEST_ARGS "${LLDB_DOTEST_ARGS}")
+string(REPLACE ${CMAKE_CFG_INTDIR} ${dotest_args_replacement} LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS_VAR "${LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS_VAR}")
+string(REPLACE ${CMAKE_CFG_INTDIR} ${dotest_args_replacement} LLDB_TEST_USER_ARGS "${LLDB_TEST_USER_ARGS}")
 string(REPLACE ${CMAKE_CFG_INTDIR} ${dotest_args_replacement} LLDB_SOURCE_DIR "${LLDB_SOURCE_DIR}")
 string(REPLACE ${CMAKE_CFG_INTDIR} ${dotest_args_replacement} LLDB_TEST_BUILD_DIRECTORY "${LLDB_TEST_BUILD_DIRECTORY}")
 string(REPLACE ${CMAKE_CFG_INTDIR} ${dotest_args_replacement} LLDB_TEST_EXECUTABLE "${LLDB_TEST_EXECUTABLE}")
 string(REPLACE ${CMAKE_CFG_INTDIR} ${dotest_args_replacement} LLDB_TEST_COMPILER "${LLDB_TEST_COMPILER}")
 string(REPLACE ${CMAKE_CFG_INTDIR} ${dotest_args_replacement} LLDB_TEST_DSYMUTIL "${LLDB_TEST_DSYMUTIL}")
 
+set(LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS ${LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS_VAR} CACHE INTERNAL STRING)
+
 configure_lit_site_cfg(
   ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/lit.site.cfg.py.in
   ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/lit.site.cfg.py
diff --git a/lldb/test/API/lit.cfg.py b/lldb/test/API/lit.cfg.py
--- a/lldb/test/API/lit.cfg.py
+++ b/lldb/test/API/lit.cfg.py
@@ -155,8 +155,8 @@
 # Build dotest command.
 dotest_cmd = [os.path.join(config.lldb_src_root, 'test', 'API', 'dotest.py')]
 
-if is_configured('dotest_args_str'):
-  dotest_cmd.extend(config.dotest_args_str.split(';'))
+if is_configured('dotest_common_args_str'):
+  dotest_cmd.extend(config.dotest_common_args_str.split(';'))
 
 # Library path may be needed to locate just-built clang and libcxx.
 if is_configured('llvm_libs_dir'):
@@ -235,6 +235,20 @@
   for plugin in config.enabled_plugins:
     dotest_cmd += ['--enable-plugin', plugin]
 
+# `dotest` args come from three different sources:
+# 1. Derived by CMake based on its configs (LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS), which end
+# up in `dotest_common_args_str`.
+# 2. CMake user parameters (LLDB_TEST_USER_ARGS), which end up in
+# `dotest_user_args_str`.
+# 3. With `llvm-lit "--param=dotest-args=..."`, which end up in
+# `dotest_lit_args_str`.
+# Check them in this order, so that more specific overrides are visited last.
+# In particular, (1) is visited at the top of the file, since the script
+# derives other information from it.
+
+if is_configured('dotest_user_args_str'):
+  dotest_cmd.extend(config.dotest_user_args_str.split(';'))
+
 if is_configured('dotest_lit_args_str'):
   # We don't want to force users passing arguments to lit to use `;` as a
   # separator. We use Python's simple lexical analyzer to turn the args into a
diff --git a/lldb/test/API/lit.site.cfg.py.in b/lldb/test/API/lit.site.cfg.py.in
--- a/lldb/test/API/lit.site.cfg.py.in
+++ b/lldb/test/API/lit.site.cfg.py.in
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@
 config.python_executable = "@Python3_EXECUTABLE@"
 config.lua_executable = "@Lua_EXECUTABLE@"
 config.lua_test_entry = "TestLuaAPI.py"
-config.dotest_args_str = lit_config.substitute("@LLDB_DOTEST_ARGS@")
+config.dotest_common_args_str = lit_config.substitute("@LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS@")
+config.dotest_user_args_str = lit_config.substitute("@LLDB_TEST_USER_ARGS@")
 config.lldb_enable_python = @LLDB_ENABLE_PYTHON@
 config.dotest_lit_args_str = None
 config.enabled_plugins = []
diff --git a/lldb/utils/lldb-dotest/CMakeLists.txt b/lldb/utils/lldb-dotest/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/lldb/utils/lldb-dotest/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/lldb/utils/lldb-dotest/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@
 add_dependencies(lldb-dotest lldb-test-depends)
 set_target_properties(lldb-dotest PROPERTIES FOLDER "lldb utils")
 
-get_property(LLDB_DOTEST_ARGS GLOBAL PROPERTY LLDB_DOTEST_ARGS_PROPERTY)
+get_property(LLDB_TEST_USER_ARGS GLOBAL PROPERTY LLDB_TEST_USER_ARGS_PROPERTY)
+get_property(LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS GLOBAL PROPERTY LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS_PROPERTY)
 set(LLDB_LIBS_DIR "${LLVM_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_INTDIR}")
 
 llvm_canonicalize_cmake_booleans(
@@ -12,7 +13,8 @@
 
 set(LLVM_TOOLS_DIR "${LLVM_TOOLS_BINARY_DIR}")
 set(vars
-  LLDB_DOTEST_ARGS
+  LLDB_TEST_COMMON_ARGS
+  LLDB_TEST_USER_ARGS
   LLDB_SOURCE_DIR
   LLDB_FRAMEWORK_DIR
   LLDB_TEST_BUILD_DIRECTORY