diff --git a/src/BsConfig.ts b/src/BsConfig.ts
index 941761259..152570086 100644
--- a/src/BsConfig.ts
+++ b/src/BsConfig.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,12 @@ export interface BsConfig {
         bs_const?: Record<string, boolean | null>;
     };
 
+    /**
+     * when set, bsconfig.json loading is disabled
+     */
+    noProject?: boolean;
+
+
     /**
      * Relative or absolute path to another bsconfig.json file that this file should import and then override.
      * Prefix with a question mark (?) to prevent throwing an exception if the file does not exist.
diff --git a/src/ProgramBuilder.ts b/src/ProgramBuilder.ts
index 3d0646255..434cb5ad9 100644
--- a/src/ProgramBuilder.ts
+++ b/src/ProgramBuilder.ts
@@ -99,7 +99,9 @@ export class ProgramBuilder {
         this.isRunning = true;
         try {
             this.options = util.normalizeAndResolveConfig(options);
-            if (this.options.project) {
+            if (this.options.noProject) {
+                this.logger.log(`'no-project' flag is set so bsconfig.json loading is disabled'`);
+            } else if (this.options.project) {
                 this.logger.log(`Using config file: "${this.options.project}"`);
             } else {
                 this.logger.log(`No bsconfig.json file found, using default options`);
diff --git a/src/cli.ts b/src/cli.ts
index 6a23b2d19..378d9983c 100644
--- a/src/cli.ts
+++ b/src/cli.ts
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ let options = yargs
     .option('files', { type: 'array', description: 'The list of files (or globs) to include in your project. Be sure to wrap these in double quotes when using globs.' })
     .option('host', { type: 'string', description: 'The host used when deploying to a Roku.' })
     .option('ignore-error-codes', { type: 'array', description: 'A list of error codes that the compiler should NOT emit, even if encountered.' })
+    .option('no-project', { type: 'boolean', defaultDescription: 'false', description: 'When set, bsconfig.json loading is disabled', alias: ['noproject', 'noProject'] })
     .option('log-level', { type: 'string', defaultDescription: '"log"', description: 'The log level. Value can be "error", "warn", "log", "info", "debug".' })
     .option('out-file', { type: 'string', description: 'Path to the zip folder containing the bundled project. Defaults to `./out/[YOUR_ROOT_FOLDER_NAME].zip' })
     .option('password', { type: 'string', description: 'The password for deploying to a Roku.' })
diff --git a/src/util.ts b/src/util.ts
index 9fb8d575d..d8754afd2 100644
--- a/src/util.ts
+++ b/src/util.ts
@@ -297,12 +297,17 @@ export class Util {
     public normalizeAndResolveConfig(config: BsConfig) {
         let result = this.normalizeConfig({});
 
-        //if no options were provided, try to find a bsconfig.json file
-        if (!config || !config.project) {
-            result.project = this.getConfigFilePath(config?.cwd);
+        if (config?.noProject) {
+            return result;
+        }
+
+        result.project = null;
+        if (config?.project) {
+            result.project = config?.project;
         } else {
-            //use the config's project link
-            result.project = config.project;
+            if (config?.cwd) {
+                result.project = this.getConfigFilePath(config?.cwd);
+            }
         }
         if (result.project) {
             let configFile = this.loadConfigFile(result.project, null, config?.cwd);