diff --git a/cmd/nvidia-ctk/cdi/list/list.go b/cmd/nvidia-ctk/cdi/list/list.go
index 1f9d39f8..74f4e48a 100644
--- a/cmd/nvidia-ctk/cdi/list/list.go
+++ b/cmd/nvidia-ctk/cdi/list/list.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 package list
 
 import (
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 
 	"github.com/urfave/cli/v2"
@@ -29,7 +30,9 @@ type command struct {
 	logger logger.Interface
 }
 
-type config struct{}
+type config struct {
+	cdiSpecDirs cli.StringSlice
+}
 
 // NewCommand constructs a cdi list command with the specified logger
 func NewCommand(logger logger.Interface) *cli.Command {
@@ -55,19 +58,29 @@ func (m command) build() *cli.Command {
 		},
 	}
 
-	c.Flags = []cli.Flag{}
+	c.Flags = []cli.Flag{
+		&cli.StringSliceFlag{
+			Name:        "spec-dir",
+			Usage:       "specify the directories to scan for CDI specifications",
+			Value:       cli.NewStringSlice(cdi.DefaultSpecDirs...),
+			Destination: &cfg.cdiSpecDirs,
+		},
+	}
 
 	return &c
 }
 
 func (m command) validateFlags(c *cli.Context, cfg *config) error {
+	if len(cfg.cdiSpecDirs.Value()) == 0 {
+		return errors.New("at least one CDI specification directory must be specified")
+	}
 	return nil
 }
 
 func (m command) run(c *cli.Context, cfg *config) error {
 	registry, err := cdi.NewCache(
 		cdi.WithAutoRefresh(false),
-		cdi.WithSpecDirs(cdi.DefaultSpecDirs...),
+		cdi.WithSpecDirs(cfg.cdiSpecDirs.Value()...),
 	)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create CDI cache: %v", err)