Feature request: --project-dir flag (or session profile) to load .claude/ from a specific path regardless of working directory

Problem

When using the VS Code extension, the working directory is locked to the workspace root. Developers who keep a parent directory open (e.g. /projects/) to see all repos in the explorer have no way to load .claude/commands/ from a specific subdirectory repo without either:

• Changing the workspace root (losing visibility of other projects), or
• Symlinking commands into ~/.claude/commands/ (causes namespace collisions across repos with same-named commands)

The same problem applies to the CLI when a developer prefers not to cd per session.

Proposed solution

A --project-dir flag on the CLI:

claude --project-dir /projects/my-repo

And an equivalent VS Code setting (workspace or folder-level):

"claude.projectDir": "/projects/my-repo"

This would make Claude Code load .claude/commands/, .claude/settings.json, and CLAUDE.md from the specified path while keeping the working directory unchanged.

Alternatives considered

• Symlink to ~/.claude/commands/ — works but pollutes global namespace; same-named commands across repos conflict
• Multi-root VS Code workspace — partial workaround but doesn't cleanly scope the active .claude/ to one root
• cd before starting — works for CLI only, not for the VS Code extension panel

Use case

Teams with a mono-repo-style parent workspace who want per-repo slash commands, settings, and CLAUDE.md context available from a fixed VS Code workspace without restructuring their editor layout.