diff --git a/src/QuartoNotebookWorker/src/refresh.jl b/src/QuartoNotebookWorker/src/refresh.jl
index ca6154e..1e7b28b 100644
--- a/src/QuartoNotebookWorker/src/refresh.jl
+++ b/src/QuartoNotebookWorker/src/refresh.jl
@@ -1,8 +1,31 @@
 function refresh!(path, original_options, options = original_options)
-    # Current directory should always start out as the directory of the
-    # notebook file, which is not necessarily right initially if the parent
-    # process was started from a different directory to the notebook.
-    cd(dirname(path))
+    # We check the `execute-dir` key in the options,
+    if haskey(options, "project") && haskey(options["project"], "execute-dir")
+        ed = options["project"]["execute-dir"]
+        if ed == "directory"
+            cd(dirname(path))
+        elseif ed == "project"
+            # TODO: this doesn't seem right. How does one get the root path of the project here?
+            # Maybe piggyback on `options` with some ridiculous identifier?
+            # We can't rely on `pwd`, because the notebook can change that.
+            if isfile(NotebookState.PROJECT[])
+                cd(dirname(NotebookState.PROJECT[]))
+            elseif isdir(NotebookState.PROJECT[])
+                cd(NotebookState.PROJECT[])
+            elseif isdir(ed)
+                cd(ed)
+            else
+                @warn "Project path not found: $(NotebookState.PROJECT[])"
+            end
+        else
+            cd(abspath(ed))
+        end
+    else
+        # Current directory should always start out as the directory of the
+        # notebook file, which is not necessarily right initially if the parent
+        # process was started from a different directory to the notebook.
+        cd(dirname(path))
+    end
 
     # Reset back to the original project environment if it happens to
     # have changed during cell evaluation.
diff --git a/src/server.jl b/src/server.jl
index f881d75..23ee60b 100644
--- a/src/server.jl
+++ b/src/server.jl
@@ -178,6 +178,7 @@ function _extract_relevant_options(file_frontmatter::Dict, options::Dict)
     julia_default = get(file_frontmatter, "julia", nothing)
 
     params_default = get(file_frontmatter, "params", Dict{String,Any}())
+    project_default = get(file_frontmatter, "project", Dict{String,Any}())
 
     if isempty(options)
         return _options_template(;
@@ -191,6 +192,7 @@ function _extract_relevant_options(file_frontmatter::Dict, options::Dict)
             julia = julia_default,
             daemon = daemon_default,
             params = params_default,
+            project = project_default,
         )
     else
         format = get(D, options, "format")
@@ -218,6 +220,8 @@ function _extract_relevant_options(file_frontmatter::Dict, options::Dict)
         cli_params = get(options, "params", Dict())
         params_merged = _recursive_merge(params_default, params, cli_params)
 
+        project = get(metadata, "project", Dict())
+
         return _options_template(;
             fig_width,
             fig_height,
@@ -229,6 +233,7 @@ function _extract_relevant_options(file_frontmatter::Dict, options::Dict)
             julia = julia_merged,
             daemon,
             params = params_merged,
+            project,
         )
     end
 end
@@ -244,6 +249,7 @@ function _options_template(;
     julia,
     daemon,
     params,
+    project,
 )
     D = Dict{String,Any}
     return D(
@@ -261,6 +267,7 @@ function _options_template(;
             "metadata" => D("julia" => julia),
         ),
         "params" => D(params),
+        "project" => D(project),
     )
 end