diff --git a/export.sh b/export.sh
index 2e136d3d2e0..b5adfd672ba 100644
--- a/export.sh
+++ b/export.sh
@@ -22,24 +22,40 @@ idf_path="."
 shell_type="detect"
 
 # shellcheck disable=SC2128,SC2169,SC2039,SC3054,SC3028 # ignore array expansion warning
-if test -n "${BASH_SOURCE-}"
+if [ -n "${BASH_SOURCE-}" ]
 then
     # shellcheck disable=SC3028,SC3054 # unreachable with 'dash'
     idf_path=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")
     shell_type="bash"
-elif test -n "${ZSH_VERSION-}"
+elif [ -n "${ZSH_VERSION-}" ]
 then
     # shellcheck disable=SC2296  # ignore parameter starts with '{' because it's zsh
     idf_path=$(dirname "${(%):-%x}")
     shell_type="zsh"
+elif [ -n "${IDF_PATH-}" ]
+then
+    if [ -f "/.dockerenv" ]
+    then
+        echo "Using the IDF_PATH found in the environment as docker environment detected."
+        idf_path=$IDF_PATH
+    elif [ -n "${IDF_PATH_FORCE-}" ]
+    then
+        echo "Using the forced IDF_PATH found in the environment."
+        idf_path=$IDF_PATH
+    fi
 fi
 
 if [ ! -f "${idf_path}/tools/idf.py" ] ||
    [ ! -f "${idf_path}/tools/idf_tools.py" ] ||
    [ ! -f "${idf_path}/tools/activate.py" ]
 then
-    echo "Could not detect IDF_PATH. Please navigate to your ESP-IDF directory and run:"
+    echo "Could not automatically detect IDF_PATH from script location. Please navigate to your ESP-IDF directory and run:"
     echo ". ./export.sh"
+    if [ -n "${IDF_PATH-}" ]
+    then
+        echo
+        echo "To use the IDF_PATH set in the environment, you can enforce it by setting 'export IDF_PATH_FORCE=1'"
+    fi
     unset idf_path
     return 1
 fi