diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1c88f57c..0d61c6a6 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
 ## [Unreleased]
+- add `-d`, `--directory` options to set starting working directory
 
 ### Changed
 - changed hotkeys for selecting stage/workdir (**[w] / [s]** now to change between workdir and stage) and added hotkeys (`[1234]`) to switch to tabs directly ([#92](https://github.com/extrawurst/gitui/issues/92))
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 22db83e0..d066ce16 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -234,6 +234,13 @@ fn process_cmdline() -> Result<()> {
                 .help("Stores logging output into a cache directory")
                 .short("l")
                 .long("logging"),
+        )
+        .arg(
+            Arg::with_name("directory")
+                .help("Set the working directory")
+                .short("d")
+                .long("directory")
+                .takes_value(true),
         );
 
     let arg_matches = app.get_matches();
@@ -241,6 +248,12 @@ fn process_cmdline() -> Result<()> {
         setup_logging()?;
     }
 
+    if arg_matches.is_present("directory") {
+        let directory =
+            arg_matches.value_of("directory").unwrap_or(".");
+        env::set_current_dir(directory)?;
+    }
+
     Ok(())
 }