diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0cb83f5..ff74826 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -83,6 +83,9 @@ interface GrabOptions {
   // archive name without the platform suffix; if not specified, it will be
   // inferred from the first archive asset found for the current platform
   platformSuffixes?: PlatformSuffixes
+  // directory to write the archive or executable to; if not specified,
+  // files will be written to the current directory
+  targetDirectory?: string
   // unpack the executable and remove the archive
   unpackExecutable?: boolean
 }
diff --git a/bin/grab-github-release.js b/bin/grab-github-release.js
index 8c4e35f..a198954 100755
--- a/bin/grab-github-release.js
+++ b/bin/grab-github-release.js
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ Options:
   -i|--version-spec <semver>    semantic version specifier or "latest"
   -n|--name <file-name>         archive name without the platform suffix
   -p|--platform-suffixes <map>  unpack the executable and remove the archive
+  -t|--target-dir <dir-name>    directory to write the output files to
   -e|--unpack-exe               unpack the executable and remove the archive
   -v|--verbose                  prints extra information on the console
   -V|--version                  print version number and exit
@@ -31,7 +32,7 @@ function fail(message) {
 }
 
 const { argv } = process
-let   repository, version, name, platformSuffixes, unpackExecutable, verbose
+let   repository, version, name, platformSuffixes, targetDirectory, unpackExecutable, verbose
 
 for (let i = 2, l = argv.length; i < l; ++i) {
   const arg = argv[i]
@@ -58,6 +59,9 @@ for (let i = 2, l = argv.length; i < l; ++i) {
             platformSuffixes[key.trim()] = val.trim()
           }
           return
+        case 't': case 'target-dir':
+          targetDirectory = match[4] || argv[++i]
+          return
         case 'e': case 'unpack-exe':
           unpackExecutable = flag
           return
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 323bc55..b44d73f 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@
     "check-coverage": "true",
     "reporter": [
       "lcov",
-      "text-summary"
+      "text"
     ],
     "branches": 100,
     "functions": 100,
diff --git a/rollup.config.js b/rollup.config.js
index c076fdb..9136b36 100644
--- a/rollup.config.js
+++ b/rollup.config.js
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ export default [
         sourcemap: true
       }
     ],
-    external: ['debug', 'fs', 'os', 'semver', 'stream', 'yauzl'],
+    external: ['debug', 'fs', 'os', 'path', 'semver', 'stream', 'yauzl'],
     plugins: [cleanup()]
   }
 ]
diff --git a/src/index.d.ts b/src/index.d.ts
index 7f253f2..a05bf23 100644
--- a/src/index.d.ts
+++ b/src/index.d.ts
@@ -23,6 +23,11 @@ interface GrabOptions {
    * inferred from the first archive asset found for the current platform
    */
   platformSuffixes?: PlatformSuffixes
+  /**
+   * directory to write the archive or executable to; if not specified,
+   * files will be written to the current directory
+   */
+  targetDirectory?: string
   /**
    * unpack the executable and remove the archive
    */
diff --git a/src/index.js b/src/index.js
index 948f530..c0aa724 100644
--- a/src/index.js
+++ b/src/index.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import debug from 'debug'
 import { createWriteStream, promises } from 'fs'
 import { platform, arch } from 'os'
+import { join } from 'path'
 import { clean, satisfies, valid } from 'semver'
 import { Readable } from 'stream'
 import { open as openArchive } from 'yauzl'
@@ -63,7 +64,7 @@ async function download(url, archive) {
   })
 }
 
-function unpack(archive) {
+function unpack(archive, targetDirectory) {
   log('unpack "%s"', archive)
   return new Promise((resolve, reject) =>
     openArchive(archive, { lazyEntries: true }, (err, zip) => {
@@ -74,14 +75,15 @@ function unpack(archive) {
           const { fileName } = entry
           /* c8 ignore next */
           if (fileName.endsWith('/')) return new Error('directory in archive')
-          log('write "%s"', fileName)
+          const filePath = targetDirectory ? join(targetDirectory, fileName) : fileName
+          log('write "%s"', filePath)
           zip.openReadStream(entry, (err, stream) => {
             /* c8 ignore next */
             if (err) return reject(err)
             stream
               .on('error', reject)
-              .pipe(createWriteStream(fileName))
-              .on('finish', () => resolve(fileName))
+              .pipe(createWriteStream(filePath))
+              .on('finish', () => resolve(filePath))
               .on('error', reject)
           })
         })
@@ -99,7 +101,7 @@ async function makeExecutable(executable) {
   }
 }
 
-export default async function grab({ name, repository, version, platformSuffixes, unpackExecutable, verbose }) {
+export default async function grab({ name, repository, version, platformSuffixes, targetDirectory, unpackExecutable, verbose }) {
   if (verbose) log = console.log.bind(console)
   if (!version) version = 'latest'
   const verspec = clean(version) || version
@@ -111,9 +113,10 @@ export default async function grab({ name, repository, version, platformSuffixes
   } else {
     ({ name, version, archive, url } = await getRelease(name, repository, verspec, platformSuffixes))
   }
+  if (targetDirectory) archive = join(targetDirectory, archive)
   await download(url, archive)
   if (unpackExecutable) {
-    const executable = await unpack(archive)
+    const executable = await unpack(archive, targetDirectory)
     await makeExecutable(executable)
     log('remove "%s"', archive)
     await unlink(archive)
diff --git a/test/mocked.js b/test/mocked.js
index 6d0e715..2909203 100644
--- a/test/mocked.js
+++ b/test/mocked.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-import { strictEqual } from 'assert'
-import { access, readFile, rm } from 'fs/promises'
+import { ok, strictEqual } from 'assert'
+import { access, mkdir, readFile, rm } from 'fs/promises'
 import { after, before, beforeEach, test, mock } from 'node:test'
 import { arch, platform } from 'os'
 import { dirname, join } from 'path'
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ const __dirname = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url))
 
 const repository = 'prantlf/v-jsonlint'
 const name = 'jsonlint'
-const executable = platform() != 'win32' ? name : `${name}.exe`
+const executable = join('.', platform() != 'win32' ? name : `${name}.exe`)
 const version = '0.0.6'
 const platformSuffixes = {
   linux: 'linux',
@@ -25,11 +25,15 @@ const content = new Blob(
   [await readFile(join(__dirname, `data/${archive}`))],
   { type: 'applicaiton.zip' }
 )
+const targetDirectory = join(__dirname, 'tmp')
 
-function cleanup() {
-  return Promise.all([
+async function cleanup() {
+  // failed on Windows on GitHub
+  if (platform() == 'win32') return
+  await Promise.all([
     rm(archive, { force: true }),
-    rm(executable, { force: true })
+    rm(executable, { force: true }),
+    rm(targetDirectory, { recursive: true, force: true })
   ])
 }
 
@@ -54,8 +58,7 @@ before(() => {
 beforeEach(cleanup)
 
 after(async () => {
-  // failed on Windows on GitHub
-  if (platform() != 'win32') await cleanup()
+  await cleanup()
   mock.reset()
 })
 
@@ -114,5 +117,13 @@ test('download archive from the latest implicit version and unpack executable',
   if (!await exists(executable)) throw new Error('executable not found')
   strictEqual(actualVersion, version)
   strictEqual(actualExecutable, executable)
-  strictEqual(actualExecutable, executable)
+})
+
+test('download archive from the latest implicit version and unpack executable to a custom directory', async () => {
+  await mkdir(targetDirectory, { recursive: true })
+  const { executable: actualExecutable, version: actualVersion } = await grab(
+    { name, repository, platformSuffixes, targetDirectory, unpackExecutable: true })
+  if (!await exists(actualExecutable)) throw new Error('executable not found')
+  strictEqual(actualVersion, version)
+  ok(actualExecutable.endsWith(executable))
 })
diff --git a/test/types.test.ts b/test/types.test.ts
index 7d07f13..974dae3 100644
--- a/test/types.test.ts
+++ b/test/types.test.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ test('Type declarations for TypeScript', () => {
       darwin: '',
       win32: ''
     },
+    targetDirectory: '',
     unpackExecutable: true
   })
 })