diff --git a/src/cli.ts b/src/cli.ts
index d30a3c3..54f3515 100644
--- a/src/cli.ts
+++ b/src/cli.ts
@@ -21,9 +21,14 @@ cli(
 		flags: {
 			generate: {
 				type: Number,
-				description: 'Number of messages to generate. (Warning: generating multiple costs more) (default: 1)',
+				description: 'Number of messages to generate (Warning: generating multiple costs more) (default: 1)',
 				alias: 'g',
 			},
+			exclude: {
+				type: [String],
+				description: 'Files to exclude from AI analysis',
+				alias: 'x',
+			},
 		},
 
 		commands: [
@@ -43,6 +48,7 @@ cli(
 		} else {
 			aicommits(
 				argv.flags.generate,
+				argv.flags.exclude,
 				rawArgv,
 			);
 		}
diff --git a/src/commands/aicommits.ts b/src/commands/aicommits.ts
index 9902348..2ca21b7 100644
--- a/src/commands/aicommits.ts
+++ b/src/commands/aicommits.ts
@@ -16,15 +16,15 @@ import { KnownError, handleCliError } from '../utils/error.js';
 
 export default async (
 	generate: number | undefined,
+	excludeFiles: string[],
 	rawArgv: string[],
 ) => (async () => {
 	intro(bgCyan(black(' aicommits ')));
-
 	await assertGitRepo();
 
 	const detectingFiles = spinner();
 	detectingFiles.start('Detecting staged files');
-	const staged = await getStagedDiff();
+	const staged = await getStagedDiff(excludeFiles);
 
 	if (!staged) {
 		detectingFiles.stop('Detecting staged files');
diff --git a/src/utils/git.ts b/src/utils/git.ts
index 943f91d..65bb7fb 100644
--- a/src/utils/git.ts
+++ b/src/utils/git.ts
@@ -9,19 +9,30 @@ export const assertGitRepo = async () => {
 	}
 };
 
-const excludeFromDiff = [
+const excludeFromDiff = (path: string) => `:(exclude)${path}`;
+
+const filesToExclude = [
 	'package-lock.json',
 	'pnpm-lock.yaml',
 
 	// yarn.lock, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock, Pipfile.lock, etc.
 	'*.lock',
-].map(file => `:(exclude)${file}`);
+].map(excludeFromDiff);
 
-export const getStagedDiff = async () => {
+export const getStagedDiff = async (excludeFiles?: string[]) => {
 	const diffCached = ['diff', '--cached'];
 	const { stdout: files } = await execa(
 		'git',
-		[...diffCached, '--name-only', ...excludeFromDiff],
+		[
+			...diffCached,
+			'--name-only',
+			...filesToExclude,
+			...(
+				excludeFiles
+					? excludeFiles.map(excludeFromDiff)
+					: []
+			),
+		],
 	);
 
 	if (!files) {
@@ -30,7 +41,10 @@ export const getStagedDiff = async () => {
 
 	const { stdout: diff } = await execa(
 		'git',
-		[...diffCached, ...excludeFromDiff],
+		[
+			...diffCached,
+			...filesToExclude,
+		],
 	);
 
 	return {
diff --git a/tests/specs/cli.ts b/tests/specs/cli.ts
index 3d6dab6..fd3ebe1 100644
--- a/tests/specs/cli.ts
+++ b/tests/specs/cli.ts
@@ -43,18 +43,23 @@ export default testSuite(({ describe }) => {
 			expect(stdout).toMatch('No staged changes found. Make sure to stage your changes with `git add`.');
 		});
 
-		await test('Generates commit message', async () => {
+		await aicommits([
+			'config',
+			'set',
+			`OPENAI_KEY=${OPENAI_KEY}`,
+		]);
+
+		await test('Excludes files', async () => {
 			await git('add', ['data.json']);
-
-			await aicommits([
-				'config',
-				'set',
-				`OPENAI_KEY=${OPENAI_KEY}`,
-			]);
-
 			const statusBefore = await git('status', ['--porcelain', '--untracked-files=no']);
 			expect(statusBefore.stdout).toBe('A  data.json');
 
+			const { stdout, exitCode } = await aicommits(['--exclude', 'data.json'], { reject: false });
+			expect(exitCode).toBe(1);
+			expect(stdout).toMatch('No staged changes found. Make sure to stage your changes with `git add`.');
+		});
+
+		await test('Generates commit message', async () => {
 			const committing = aicommits();
 			committing.stdout!.on('data', (buffer: Buffer) => {
 				const stdout = buffer.toString();