diff --git a/cli/xgotext/main.go b/cli/xgotext/main.go
index 17ef313..fa12cd4 100644
--- a/cli/xgotext/main.go
+++ b/cli/xgotext/main.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package main
 import (
 	"flag"
 	"log"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/leonelquinteros/gotext/cli/xgotext/parser"
 )
@@ -11,6 +12,7 @@ var (
 	dirName       = flag.String("in", "", "input dir: /path/to/go/pkg")
 	outputDir     = flag.String("out", "", "output dir: /path/to/i18n/files")
 	defaultDomain = flag.String("default", "default", "Name of default domain")
+	excludeDirs   = flag.String("exclude", ".git", "Comma separated list of directories to exclude")
 )
 
 func main() {
@@ -30,7 +32,7 @@ func main() {
 		Default: *defaultDomain,
 	}
 
-	err := parser.ParseDirRec(*dirName, data)
+	err := parser.ParseDirRec(*dirName, strings.Split(*excludeDirs, ","), data)
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatal(err)
 	}
diff --git a/cli/xgotext/parser/parser.go b/cli/xgotext/parser/parser.go
index 9f12e1b..4fdd2d3 100644
--- a/cli/xgotext/parser/parser.go
+++ b/cli/xgotext/parser/parser.go
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 package parser
 
 import (
+	"log"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
 )
 
 // ParseDirFunc parses one directory
@@ -34,7 +36,7 @@ func ParseDir(dirPath, basePath string, data *DomainMap) error {
 }
 
 // ParseDirRec calls all known parser for each directory
-func ParseDirRec(dirPath string, data *DomainMap) error {
+func ParseDirRec(dirPath string, exclude []string, data *DomainMap) error {
 	dirPath, _ = filepath.Abs(dirPath)
 
 	err := filepath.Walk(dirPath, func(path string, info os.FileInfo, err error) error {
@@ -43,6 +45,15 @@ func ParseDirRec(dirPath string, data *DomainMap) error {
 		}
 
 		if info.IsDir() {
+			// skip directory if in exclude list
+			subDir, _ := filepath.Rel(dirPath, path)
+			for _, d := range exclude {
+				if strings.HasPrefix(subDir, d) {
+					return nil
+				}
+			}
+			log.Print(path)
+
 			err := ParseDir(path, dirPath, data)
 			if err != nil {
 				return err