Index: swh/model/cli.py
===================================================================
--- swh/model/cli.py
+++ swh/model/cli.py
@@ -52,11 +52,14 @@
     return swhid(CONTENT, object)
 
 
-def swhid_of_dir(path):
-    from swh.model.from_disk import Directory
+def swhid_of_dir(path, ignored_dirs):
+    from swh.model.from_disk import Directory, ignore_named_directories
     from swh.model.identifiers import DIRECTORY, swhid
 
-    object = Directory.from_disk(path=path).get_data()
+    names = [name.encode(sys.getfilesystemencoding()) for name in ignored_dirs]
+    dir_filter = ignore_named_directories(names)
+
+    object = Directory.from_disk(path=path, dir_filter=dir_filter).get_data()
     return swhid(DIRECTORY, object)
 
 
@@ -96,7 +99,7 @@
     return str(SWHID(object_type="snapshot", object_id=snapshot_identifier(snapshot)))
 
 
-def identify_object(obj_type, follow_symlinks, obj):
+def identify_object(obj_type, follow_symlinks, ignored_directory_names, obj):
     from urllib.parse import urlparse
 
     if obj_type == "auto":
@@ -125,7 +128,7 @@
         if obj_type == "content":
             swhid = swhid_of_file(path)
         elif obj_type == "directory":
-            swhid = swhid_of_dir(path)
+            swhid = swhid_of_dir(path, ignored_directory_names)
     elif obj_type == "origin":
         swhid = swhid_of_origin(obj)
     elif obj_type == "snapshot":
@@ -160,6 +163,13 @@
     type=click.Choice(["auto", "content", "directory", "origin", "snapshot"]),
     help="type of object to identify (default: auto)",
 )
+@click.option(
+    "--ignore-dir",
+    "ignored_dirs",
+    multiple=True,
+    metavar="NAME",
+    help="ignore directories by name (can be repeated, does not support globing)",
+)
 @click.option(
     "--verify",
     "-v",
@@ -168,7 +178,7 @@
     help="reference identifier to be compared with computed one",
 )
 @click.argument("objects", nargs=-1, required=True)
-def identify(obj_type, verify, show_filename, follow_symlinks, objects):
+def identify(obj_type, verify, show_filename, follow_symlinks, objects, ignored_dirs):
     """Compute the Software Heritage persistent identifier (SWHID) for the given
     source code object(s).
 
@@ -203,7 +213,9 @@
     if verify and len(objects) != 1:
         raise click.BadParameter("verification requires a single object")
 
-    results = map(partial(identify_object, obj_type, follow_symlinks), objects)
+    results = map(
+        partial(identify_object, obj_type, follow_symlinks, ignored_dirs), objects,
+    )
 
     if verify:
         swhid = next(results)[1]