diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e9aeb70..e0b56d6 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ Type `/` in the TUI to open the autocomplete popup. Available commands:
 | `/swarm` | Spawn, monitor, and chat with background subagents. Each runs in parallel with your main session and shares its working directory. |
 | `/skills` | List discovered skills (SKILL.md files) and preview their bodies. |
 | `/compact` | Summarize the transcript into one message to free up context. |
-| `/study` | Run the canned prompt "Read and understand everything in the current directory." so the agent has full project context before you start asking targeted questions. |
+| `/study` | Run the canned prompt "Read and understand everything in the current directory." so the agent has full project context before you start asking targeted questions. Pass a path — typed, drag-dropped, or selected via `@` — to target a specific file or directory instead: `/study [dir:internal/]`, `/study cmd/zot/main.go`. |
 | `/jail` | Confine tools to the current directory. |
 | `/unjail` | Allow tools to touch paths outside again. |
 | `/reload-ext` | Hot-reload all extensions (re-read manifests, respawn subprocesses, rebuild tool registry). |
diff --git a/internal/agent/modes/interactive.go b/internal/agent/modes/interactive.go
index 84d79b1..ad11137 100644
--- a/internal/agent/modes/interactive.go
+++ b/internal/agent/modes/interactive.go
@@ -2362,6 +2362,43 @@ func (i *Interactive) applySettingToggle(key string, value bool) {
 	}
 }
 
+// buildStudyPrompt returns the canned prompt the /study command
+// submits to the agent.
+//
+// With no argument, /study targets the current directory — the
+// historical behaviour. With an argument, /study targets that path
+// instead; either a directory ("read every file in here") or a
+// single file ("read this file"). The argument can be:
+//
+//   - a relative path (resolved against cwd)
+//   - an absolute path
+//   - an @-picker chip, which has already been expanded to an
+//     absolute path by expandFileChips before runSlash sees it
+//
+// The path is stat'd to pick the right wording ("directory" vs
+// "file"). If the path doesn't exist, we still build a sensible
+// prompt rather than erroring — the agent will surface the
+// missing-file failure itself when it tries to read it, which is
+// more useful than a refusal here.
+func buildStudyPrompt(arg, cwd string) string {
+	arg = strings.TrimSpace(arg)
+	if arg == "" {
+		return "Read and understand everything in the current directory."
+	}
+	abs := arg
+	if !filepath.IsAbs(abs) {
+		abs = filepath.Join(cwd, abs)
+	}
+	display := arg
+	if rel, err := filepath.Rel(cwd, abs); err == nil && !strings.HasPrefix(rel, "..") {
+		display = rel
+	}
+	if info, err := os.Stat(abs); err == nil && !info.IsDir() {
+		return "Read and understand the file " + display + "."
+	}
+	return "Read and understand everything in the directory " + display + "."
+}
+
 func (i *Interactive) runSlash(ctx context.Context, cmd string) (done bool) {
 	parts := strings.Fields(cmd)
 	switch parts[0] {
@@ -2432,11 +2469,16 @@ func (i *Interactive) runSlash(ctx context.Context, cmd string) (done bool) {
 		i.runCompact(ctx, false)
 	case "/study":
 		// Canned prompt that tells the agent to read every file
-		// in the current directory so its later turns have the
-		// whole project in context. Dispatched through the normal
-		// queue-or-start path so it behaves identically to
-		// typing the prompt by hand.
-		const studyPrompt = "Read and understand everything in the current directory."
+		// in some target so its later turns have the whole thing
+		// in context. With no argument, the target is the current
+		// directory. With an argument, the target is whatever the
+		// user passed — typed by hand, drag-dropped, or selected
+		// via the @ file picker (which is why we accept both files
+		// and directories; the @-picker chips for both have already
+		// been expanded to absolute paths by expandFileChips above).
+		// Dispatched through the normal queue-or-start path so it
+		// behaves identically to typing the prompt by hand.
+		studyPrompt := buildStudyPrompt(strings.TrimSpace(strings.TrimPrefix(cmd, parts[0])), i.cfg.CWD)
 		i.mu.Lock()
 		busy := i.busy
 		ag := i.agent
diff --git a/internal/agent/modes/slash_suggest.go b/internal/agent/modes/slash_suggest.go
index c09b2a5..fbaed56 100644
--- a/internal/agent/modes/slash_suggest.go
+++ b/internal/agent/modes/slash_suggest.go
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ var slashCatalog = []slashCommand{
 	{Name: "/session", Desc: "export the current session to a .zotsession file, or import one"},
 	{Name: "/jump", Desc: "scroll the chat to a previous turn (or /jump <text>)"},
 	{Name: "/compact", Desc: "summarize and replace the transcript to free up context"},
-	{Name: "/study", Desc: "read every file in the current directory so the agent has full project context"},
+	{Name: "/study", Desc: "read every file in the cwd (or a passed file/dir) so the agent has full context"},
 	{Name: "/btw", Desc: "side-chat that doesn't add to the main thread (saves tokens)"},
 	{Name: "/jail", Desc: "confine tools to the current directory"},
 	{Name: "/unjail", Desc: "allow tools to touch paths outside this directory"},
diff --git a/internal/agent/modes/study_test.go b/internal/agent/modes/study_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..abb04fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/agent/modes/study_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+package modes
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestBuildStudyPrompt(t *testing.T) {
+	tmp := t.TempDir()
+	subdir := filepath.Join(tmp, "internal")
+	if err := os.Mkdir(subdir, 0o755); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	file := filepath.Join(tmp, "main.go")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(file, []byte("package main\n"), 0o644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	cases := []struct {
+		name string
+		arg  string
+		cwd  string
+		want string
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "empty arg keeps the original cwd prompt",
+			arg:  "",
+			cwd:  tmp,
+			want: "Read and understand everything in the current directory.",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "relative dir becomes a directory prompt",
+			arg:  "internal",
+			cwd:  tmp,
+			want: "Read and understand everything in the directory internal.",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "absolute dir under cwd is shown as a relative path",
+			arg:  subdir,
+			cwd:  tmp,
+			want: "Read and understand everything in the directory internal.",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "relative file becomes a file prompt",
+			arg:  "main.go",
+			cwd:  tmp,
+			want: "Read and understand the file main.go.",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "absolute file under cwd is shown as a relative path",
+			arg:  file,
+			cwd:  tmp,
+			want: "Read and understand the file main.go.",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "missing path falls back to the directory phrasing",
+			arg:  "does-not-exist",
+			cwd:  tmp,
+			want: "Read and understand everything in the directory does-not-exist.",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "absolute path outside cwd keeps its absolute form",
+			arg:  subdir,
+			cwd:  filepath.Join(tmp, "elsewhere"),
+			want: "Read and understand everything in the directory " + subdir + ".",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "leading and trailing whitespace are stripped",
+			arg:  "  main.go  ",
+			cwd:  tmp,
+			want: "Read and understand the file main.go.",
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range cases {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			got := buildStudyPrompt(tc.arg, tc.cwd)
+			if got != tc.want {
+				t.Fatalf("buildStudyPrompt(%q, %q)\n  got:  %q\n  want: %q", tc.arg, tc.cwd, got, tc.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}