diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index 9cdbbf9..4bbaed8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -35,6 +35,18 @@ jobs:
             './**/*.rst'
           fail: true
 
+      - name: test --base argument
+        uses: ./
+        with:
+          args: >-
+            --base .
+            --verbose
+            --no-progress
+            './**/*.md'
+            './**/*.html'
+            './**/*.rst'
+          fail: true
+
       - name: Install jq
         run: sudo apt-get install jq
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 044f185..1f8fd05 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -73,6 +73,16 @@ jobs:
           fail: true
 ```
 
+You may want to add additional arguments to the above. In particular, if you're testing a site directly from the file system (as in the above), you'll likely want to set the argument `--base .` to ensure that **all links** (including root-relative paths) in the files are tested. You don't need to do this if you're testing a hosted site.
+
+```yaml
+      - name: Link Checker
+        uses: lycheeverse/lychee-action@v1.8.0
+        with:
+          fail: true
+          args: --base . --verbose --no-progress './**/*.md' './**/*.html' './**/*.rst'
+```
+
 ## Passing arguments
 
 This action uses [lychee] for link checking.
@@ -102,7 +112,7 @@ Here is how to pass the arguments.
   uses: lycheeverse/lychee-action@v1.8.0
   with:
     # Check all markdown and html files in repo (default)
-    args: --verbose --no-progress './**/*.md' './**/*.html' './**/*.rst'
+    args: --base . --verbose --no-progress './**/*.md' './**/*.html' './**/*.rst'
     # Use json as output format (instead of markdown)
     format: json
     # Use different output file path
@@ -133,7 +143,7 @@ In order to mitigate issues regarding rate limiting or to reduce stress on exter
 - name: Run lychee
   uses: lycheeverse/lychee-action@v1.8.0
   with:
-    args: "--cache --max-cache-age 1d ."
+    args: "--base . --cache --max-cache-age 1d ."
 ```
 
 It will compare and save the cache based on the given key.
@@ -153,7 +163,7 @@ If you need more control over when caches are restored and saved, you can split
 - name: Run lychee
   uses: lycheeverse/lychee-action@v1.8.0
   with:
-    args: "--cache --max-cache-age 1d ."
+    args: "--base . --cache --max-cache-age 1d ."
 
 - name: Save lychee cache
   uses: actions/cache/save@v3