diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a89a1c4..dc1fc96 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/).
 
+## [1.0.2] - 2026-08-09
+
+### Added
+
+- `placeholder?: string` flag descriptor field: overrides the `<value>` placeholder in the auto-generated usage string (e.g. `<dir>`) for a value-taking flag.
+
 ## [1.0.1] - 2026-08-09
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4b0262e..8da83cd 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -85,6 +85,12 @@ cli.parse(argv, overrideSchema);
 
 A schema without `.optional()`/`.default()` is required - omitting the flag is a parse error, and it's shown without brackets in the auto-generated usage string. `.optional()`/`.default()` short-circuit on a missing flag before any coercion/transform runs, so an omitted flag resolves to `undefined`/the default rather than failing (e.g. on `Number(undefined)`).
 
+The `<value>` placeholder shown for value-taking flags can be overridden per-flag with `placeholder`:
+
+```ts
+dir: { schema: z.string(), placeholder: "dir" } // --dir <dir>
+```
+
 **Booleans**: `negatable: true` only applies to a (possibly `.optional()`/`.default()`-wrapped) `z.boolean()` and throws at `defineCli()` time on anything else. `z.stringbool()` parses `"true"`/`"1"`/`"yes"`/`"on"`/`"y"`/`"enabled"` (case-insensitive) as `true` and their negatives as `false` - don't reach for `z.coerce.boolean()` instead, it's plain JS truthiness, so `z.coerce.boolean().parse("false")` is `true` (any non-empty string is truthy). A union of boolean literals doesn't behave like `z.boolean()` either: only a bare `z.boolean()` registers a presence-style parseArgs boolean, so `z.union([z.literal(true), z.literal(false)])` is registered as a value-taking string flag, and fails against the literal string `"true"` it would actually receive.
 
 ```ts
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index d275073..63426ed 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
   "name": "zod-cli-flags",
-  "version": "1.0.1",
+  "version": "1.0.2",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "zod-cli-flags",
-      "version": "1.0.1",
+      "version": "1.0.2",
       "license": "MIT",
       "devDependencies": {
         "@types/node": "^22",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index c1ae2aa..7ed750f 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "zod-cli-flags",
-  "version": "1.0.1",
+  "version": "1.0.2",
   "description": "Define a CLI's flags as a single Zod schema and parse argv into a typed result.",
   "type": "module",
   "main": "./dist/index.js",
diff --git a/src/defineCli.test.ts b/src/defineCli.test.ts
index dd2f935..bcd3c77 100644
--- a/src/defineCli.test.ts
+++ b/src/defineCli.test.ts
@@ -271,6 +271,20 @@ describe("defineCli - positionals", () => {
     if (result.success) expect(result.positionals).toEqual(["one", "two"]);
   });
 
+  it("substitutes a flag's placeholder into the auto-generated usage", () => {
+    const cli = defineCli({
+      flags: {
+        output: { schema: z.string(), placeholder: "dir" },
+        tag: {
+          schema: z.array(z.string()).default([]),
+          multiple: true,
+          placeholder: "tag",
+        },
+      },
+    });
+    expect(cli.usage).toBe("Usage: --output <dir> [--tag <tag>...]");
+  });
+
   it("prepends the label before the flags when positionals carry one", () => {
     const cli = defineCli({
       flags: { output: { schema: z.string() } },
diff --git a/src/types.ts b/src/types.ts
index 9384704..9510f80 100644
--- a/src/types.ts
+++ b/src/types.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ export interface FlagDescriptor<T = unknown> {
   negatable?: boolean;
   /** Shown in the auto-generated usage string. */
   description?: string;
+  /** Value placeholder in the auto-generated usage string, e.g. "dir" for <dir>. Defaults to "value". */
+  placeholder?: string;
 }
 
 export type FlagDescriptors = Record<string, FlagDescriptor<any>>;
diff --git a/src/usage.ts b/src/usage.ts
index b27d74e..4ef3e4d 100644
--- a/src/usage.ts
+++ b/src/usage.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ interface UsageFlag {
     multiple?: boolean;
     negatable?: boolean;
     description?: string;
+    placeholder?: string;
   };
   isBoolean: boolean;
   isOptional: boolean;
@@ -26,7 +27,10 @@ export function buildUsage(
     } else if (isBoolean) {
       core = alias;
     } else {
-      const value = descriptor.multiple ? "<value>..." : "<value>";
+      const placeholder = descriptor.placeholder ?? "value";
+      const value = descriptor.multiple
+        ? `<${placeholder}>...`
+        : `<${placeholder}>`;
       core = `${alias} ${value}`;
     }