diff --git a/cli.js b/cli.js
index 0303576..dea69d4 100755
--- a/cli.js
+++ b/cli.js
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ const cli = meow(
     '  -d, --diff              ignore unchanged lines (affects Travis only)',
     '      --reporter=REPORTER use a custom vfile-reporter',
     '  --stdin                 read from stdin',
+    '  --silently-ignore       do not fail when given ignored files',
     '',
     'When no input files are given, searches for markdown and text',
     'files in the current directory, `doc`, and `docs`.',
@@ -79,7 +80,8 @@ const cli = meow(
       diff: {type: 'boolean', alias: 'd'},
       reporter: {type: 'string'},
       quiet: {type: 'boolean', alias: 'q'},
-      why: {type: 'boolean', alias: 'w'}
+      why: {type: 'boolean', alias: 'w'},
+      silentlyIgnore: {type: 'boolean'}
     }
   }
 )
@@ -107,6 +109,10 @@ if (cli.flags.stdin) {
   globs = cli.input
 }
 
+if (cli.flags.silentlyIgnore) {
+  silentlyIgnore = true
+}
+
 engine(
   {
     processor: unified(),
diff --git a/test/cli.js b/test/cli.js
index 5650c11..89f39e3 100644
--- a/test/cli.js
+++ b/test/cli.js
@@ -358,5 +358,32 @@ test('alex-cli', function (t) {
     })
   })
 
+  t.test('silently-ignore flag', function (t) {
+    t.plan(1)
+
+    childProcess.exec(
+      './cli.js --silently-ignore "example.md"',
+      (error, stdout, stderr) => {
+        t.deepEqual(
+          [error, stderr, stdout],
+          [null, '', ''],
+          'should exit successfully with --silently-ignore flag'
+        )
+      }
+    )
+  })
+
+  t.test('without silently-ignore flag', function (t) {
+    t.plan(1)
+
+    childProcess.exec('./cli.js example.md', (error, stdout, stderr) => {
+      t.deepEqual(
+        [error && error.code, /1 error/.test(stderr), stdout],
+        [1, true, ''],
+        'should fail without --silently-ignore flag'
+      )
+    })
+  })
+
   t.end()
 })