diff --git a/bin/rector.php b/bin/rector.php
index 5860ed1b7d0..48a0cc6e8bb 100755
--- a/bin/rector.php
+++ b/bin/rector.php
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 use Rector\Bootstrap\RectorConfigsResolver;
 use Rector\ChangesReporting\Output\JsonOutputFormatter;
 use Rector\Configuration\Option;
+use Rector\Configuration\Parameter\SimpleParameterProvider;
 use Rector\Console\Style\SymfonyStyleFactory;
 use Rector\DependencyInjection\LazyContainerFactory;
 use Rector\DependencyInjection\RectorContainerFactory;
@@ -127,6 +128,14 @@ public function loadIfExistsAndNotLoadedYet(string $filePath): void
 $autoloadIncluder->autoloadRectorInstalledAsGlobalDependency();
 $autoloadIncluder->autoloadFromCommandLine();
 
+// a different extra autoload changes what PHPStan can resolve, so cached results
+// must not survive it: register it before the configuration hash is computed.
+// ArgvInput handles both "--autoload-file path" and "--autoload-file=path"
+$autoloadFileOption = (new ArgvInput())->getParameterOption(['--autoload-file', '-a'], null);
+if (is_string($autoloadFileOption) && $autoloadFileOption !== '') {
+    SimpleParameterProvider::setParameter(Option::AUTOLOAD_FILE, realpath($autoloadFileOption) ?: $autoloadFileOption);
+}
+
 $rectorConfigsResolver = new RectorConfigsResolver();
 
 try {