diff --git a/src/commands/check.ts b/src/commands/check.ts
index 4fc716ce..5706056e 100644
--- a/src/commands/check.ts
+++ b/src/commands/check.ts
@@ -21,7 +21,8 @@ export function registerCheckCommand(program: Command) {
     .option("--staged", "Only check git-staged files")
     .option("--adr <id>", "Only check rules from a specific ADR")
     .option("--verbose", "Show passing rules and timing info")
-    .action(async (opts) => {
+    .argument("[files...]", "Only check rules relevant to these files")
+    .action(async (files, opts) => {
       const projectRoot = findProjectRoot();
       if (!projectRoot) {
         logError(
@@ -67,8 +68,19 @@ export function registerCheckCommand(program: Command) {
         process.exit(0);
       }
 
+      // Collect file paths from arguments and/or stdin pipe
+      let filterFiles: string[] = files ?? [];
+      if (!process.stdin.isTTY) {
+        const stdin = await new Response(
+          process.stdin as unknown as ReadableStream
+        ).text();
+        const piped = stdin.trim().split(/\r?\n/).filter(Boolean);
+        filterFiles = [...filterFiles, ...piped];
+      }
+
       const result = await runChecks(projectRoot, loadedAdrs, {
         staged: opts.staged,
+        files: filterFiles.length > 0 ? filterFiles : undefined,
       });
 
       if (opts.ci) {
diff --git a/src/engine/runner.ts b/src/engine/runner.ts
index 64f919a2..11540add 100644
--- a/src/engine/runner.ts
+++ b/src/engine/runner.ts
@@ -180,20 +180,41 @@ function createRuleContext(
 export async function runChecks(
   projectRoot: string,
   loadedAdrs: LoadedAdr[],
-  options: { staged?: boolean } = {}
+  options: { staged?: boolean; files?: string[] } = {}
 ): Promise<CheckResult> {
   const startTime = performance.now();
   const changedFiles = options.staged ? await getStagedFiles(projectRoot) : [];
   const results: RuleResult[] = [];
 
+  // Resolve user-specified files to relative paths for intersection
+  let filterFiles: Set<string> | undefined;
+  if (options.files && options.files.length > 0) {
+    filterFiles = new Set(
+      options.files.map((f) => {
+        const absPath = safePath(projectRoot, f);
+        return relative(projectRoot, absPath).replaceAll("\\", "/");
+      })
+    );
+  }
+
   // Run ADRs in parallel
   const adrResults = await Promise.allSettled(
     loadedAdrs.map(async ({ adr, ruleSet }) => {
-      const scopedFiles = await resolveScopedFiles(
+      let scopedFiles = await resolveScopedFiles(
         projectRoot,
         adr.frontmatter.files
       );
 
+      // When files are specified, narrow scopedFiles to the intersection
+      if (filterFiles) {
+        scopedFiles = scopedFiles.filter((f) => filterFiles.has(f));
+      }
+
+      // Skip this ADR entirely if no specified files are in scope
+      if (filterFiles && scopedFiles.length === 0) {
+        return [];
+      }
+
       const adrRuleResults: RuleResult[] = [];
 
       // Run rules within an ADR sequentially
diff --git a/tests/integration/check.test.ts b/tests/integration/check.test.ts
index b9264c64..841f0f31 100644
--- a/tests/integration/check.test.ts
+++ b/tests/integration/check.test.ts
@@ -238,6 +238,42 @@ describe("check integration", () => {
     expect(stdout).toContain("ms");
   });
 
+  test("file args → scopes checks to specified files", async () => {
+    scaffoldProject(dir);
+    mkdirSync(join(dir, "src"), { recursive: true });
+    mkdirSync(join(dir, "docs"), { recursive: true });
+    writeFileSync(join(dir, "src", "good.ts"), "const x = 1;\n");
+    writeFileSync(join(dir, "src", "bad.ts"), 'console.log("bad");\n');
+    writeFileSync(join(dir, "docs", "readme.md"), "# Hello\n");
+    const noConsoleRule = `export default { rules: { "no-console": { description: "No console.log", async check(ctx) {
+      for (const f of ctx.scopedFiles) { for (const m of await ctx.grep(f, /console\\.log/)) ctx.report.violation({ message: "found", file: m.file, line: m.line }); }
+    } } } };`;
+    writeAdr(
+      dir,
+      "FILE-001.md",
+      makeAdr({
+        id: "FILE-001",
+        title: "X",
+        rules: true,
+        files: ["src/**/*.ts"],
+      })
+    );
+    writeRules(dir, "FILE-001.rules.ts", noConsoleRule);
+
+    const good = await runCli(["check", "--json", "src/good.ts"], dir);
+    expect(good.exitCode).toBe(0);
+    expect(JSON.parse(good.stdout).pass).toBe(true);
+
+    const bad = await runCli(["check", "--json", "src/bad.ts"], dir);
+    expect(bad.exitCode).toBe(1);
+    expect(JSON.parse(bad.stdout).pass).toBe(false);
+
+    // Out-of-scope file → ADR skipped
+    const oos = await runCli(["check", "--json", "docs/readme.md"], dir);
+    expect(oos.exitCode).toBe(0);
+    expect(JSON.parse(oos.stdout).pass).toBe(true);
+  });
+
   test("exit non-zero when no .archgate project found", async () => {
     // dir has no .archgate scaffold
     const { exitCode, stderr } = await runCli(["check"], dir);