diff --git a/packages/pi-coding-agent/src/cli/args.ts b/packages/pi-coding-agent/src/cli/args.ts
index 101e67da5..cd056d5d8 100644
--- a/packages/pi-coding-agent/src/cli/args.ts
+++ b/packages/pi-coding-agent/src/cli/args.ts
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@ export interface Args {
 	fileArgs: string[];
 	/** Unknown flags (potentially extension flags) - map of flag name to value */
 	unknownFlags: Map<string, boolean | string>;
+	/** --bare: suppress CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md, user skills, prompt templates, themes, project preferences */
+	bare?: boolean;
 }
 
 const VALID_THINKING_LEVELS = ["off", "minimal", "low", "medium", "high", "xhigh"] as const;
@@ -169,6 +171,8 @@ export function parseArgs(args: string[], extensionFlags?: Map<string, { type: "
 			}
 		} else if (arg === "--verbose") {
 			result.verbose = true;
+		} else if (arg === "--bare") {
+			result.bare = true;
 		} else if (arg === "--offline") {
 			result.offline = true;
 		} else if (arg.startsWith("@")) {
diff --git a/packages/pi-coding-agent/src/main.ts b/packages/pi-coding-agent/src/main.ts
index 8c9ef0919..4416043cc 100644
--- a/packages/pi-coding-agent/src/main.ts
+++ b/packages/pi-coding-agent/src/main.ts
@@ -419,11 +419,13 @@ export async function main(args: string[]) {
 		additionalPromptTemplatePaths: firstPass.promptTemplates,
 		additionalThemePaths: firstPass.themes,
 		noExtensions: firstPass.noExtensions,
-		noSkills: firstPass.noSkills,
-		noPromptTemplates: firstPass.noPromptTemplates,
-		noThemes: firstPass.noThemes,
+		noSkills: firstPass.noSkills || firstPass.bare,
+		noPromptTemplates: firstPass.noPromptTemplates || firstPass.bare,
+		noThemes: firstPass.noThemes || firstPass.bare,
 		systemPrompt: firstPass.systemPrompt,
 		appendSystemPrompt: firstPass.appendSystemPrompt,
+		// --bare: suppress CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md ancestor walk
+		...(firstPass.bare ? { agentsFilesOverride: () => ({ agentsFiles: [] }) } : {}),
 	});
 	await resourceLoader.reload();
 	time("resourceLoader.reload");
diff --git a/src/headless.ts b/src/headless.ts
index b91fabd92..f332dbe89 100644
--- a/src/headless.ts
+++ b/src/headless.ts
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ export interface HeadlessOptions {
   answers?: string       // path to answers JSON file
   eventFilter?: Set<string>  // filter JSONL output to specific event types
   resumeSession?: string // session ID to resume (--resume <id>)
+  bare?: boolean         // --bare: suppress CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md, user skills, project preferences
 }
 
 interface TrackedEvent {
@@ -158,6 +159,8 @@ export function parseHeadlessArgs(argv: string[]): HeadlessOptions {
         }
       } else if (arg === '--resume' && i + 1 < args.length) {
         options.resumeSession = args[++i]
+      } else if (arg === '--bare') {
+        options.bare = true
       }
     } else if (!positionalStarted) {
       positionalStarted = true
@@ -306,6 +309,10 @@ async function runHeadlessOnce(options: HeadlessOptions, restartCount: number):
   if (injector) {
     clientOptions.env = injector.getSecretEnvVars()
   }
+  // Propagate --bare to the child process
+  if (options.bare) {
+    clientOptions.args = [...((clientOptions.args as string[]) || []), '--bare']
+  }
 
   const client = new RpcClient(clientOptions)
 
diff --git a/src/tests/headless-cli-surface.test.ts b/src/tests/headless-cli-surface.test.ts
index a1b81ae29..89fab5d44 100644
--- a/src/tests/headless-cli-surface.test.ts
+++ b/src/tests/headless-cli-surface.test.ts
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ interface HeadlessOptions {
   answers?: string
   eventFilter?: Set<string>
   resumeSession?: string
+  bare?: boolean
 }
 
 function parseHeadlessArgs(argv: string[]): HeadlessOptions {
@@ -104,6 +105,8 @@ function parseHeadlessArgs(argv: string[]): HeadlessOptions {
         options.responseTimeout = parseInt(args[++i], 10)
       } else if (arg === '--resume' && i + 1 < args.length) {
         options.resumeSession = args[++i]
+      } else if (arg === '--bare') {
+        options.bare = true
       }
     } else if (!positionalStarted) {
       positionalStarted = true
@@ -336,3 +339,49 @@ test('combined flags parse correctly', () => {
   assert.equal(opts.verbose, true)
   assert.equal(opts.command, 'auto')
 })
+
+// ─── --bare flag ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+test('--bare sets bare to true', () => {
+  const opts = parseHeadlessArgs(['node', 'gsd', 'headless', '--bare', 'auto'])
+  assert.equal(opts.bare, true)
+  assert.equal(opts.command, 'auto')
+})
+
+test('no --bare means bare is undefined', () => {
+  const opts = parseHeadlessArgs(['node', 'gsd', 'headless', 'auto'])
+  assert.equal(opts.bare, undefined)
+})
+
+test('--bare is a boolean flag (no value needed)', () => {
+  const opts = parseHeadlessArgs(['node', 'gsd', 'headless', '--bare', '--json', 'auto'])
+  assert.equal(opts.bare, true)
+  assert.equal(opts.json, true)
+})
+
+test('--bare combined with --output-format json', () => {
+  const opts = parseHeadlessArgs([
+    'node', 'gsd', 'headless',
+    '--bare',
+    '--output-format', 'json',
+    'auto',
+  ])
+  assert.equal(opts.bare, true)
+  assert.equal(opts.outputFormat, 'json')
+  assert.equal(opts.json, true)
+  assert.equal(opts.command, 'auto')
+})
+
+test('--bare does not affect other flags', () => {
+  const opts = parseHeadlessArgs([
+    'node', 'gsd', 'headless',
+    '--bare',
+    '--timeout', '60000',
+    '--resume', 'sess-abc',
+    'auto',
+  ])
+  assert.equal(opts.bare, true)
+  assert.equal(opts.timeout, 60000)
+  assert.equal(opts.resumeSession, 'sess-abc')
+  assert.equal(opts.command, 'auto')
+})