diff --git a/Directory.Build.props b/Directory.Build.props
index af65e90..336cf50 100644
--- a/Directory.Build.props
+++ b/Directory.Build.props
@@ -7,4 +7,13 @@
     <TreatWarningsAsErrors>true</TreatWarningsAsErrors>
     <EnforceCodeStyleInBuild>true</EnforceCodeStyleInBuild>
   </PropertyGroup>
+
+  <!-- Optional: reference Terminal.Gui source instead of the NuGet package.
+       Set TerminalGuiRoot to the path of your local Terminal.Gui repo clone.
+       Example: dotnet build -p:TerminalGuiRoot=../Terminal.Gui -->
+  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(TerminalGuiRoot)' != ''">
+    <UseLocalTerminalGui>true</UseLocalTerminalGui>
+    <!-- Resolve relative paths against the repo root (where this file lives), not each .csproj -->
+    <TerminalGuiRoot>$([MSBuild]::NormalizePath('$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)', '$(TerminalGuiRoot)'))</TerminalGuiRoot>
+  </PropertyGroup>
 </Project>
diff --git a/Directory.Build.targets b/Directory.Build.targets
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e515bd5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Directory.Build.targets
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+<Project>
+  <!-- When TerminalGuiRoot is set, replace the Terminal.Gui NuGet PackageReference with a ProjectReference -->
+  <ItemGroup Condition="'$(UseLocalTerminalGui)' == 'true'">
+    <PackageReference Remove="Terminal.Gui" />
+    <ProjectReference Include="$(TerminalGuiRoot)\Terminal.Gui\Terminal.Gui.csproj" />
+  </ItemGroup>
+</Project>
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9e01efb..00fda8c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -24,6 +24,17 @@ cd Example
 dotnet run
 ```
 
+### Building Against Local Terminal.Gui Source
+
+To build the examples against a local clone of Terminal.Gui (instead of the NuGet package), pass the `TerminalGuiRoot` property pointing to your Terminal.Gui repository root:
+
+```bash
+dotnet build -p:TerminalGuiRoot=../Terminal.Gui
+dotnet run --project Example -p:TerminalGuiRoot=../Terminal.Gui
+```
+
+This replaces the NuGet `PackageReference` with a `ProjectReference`, so any breaking changes in Terminal.Gui are caught immediately during development.
+
 ## Examples
 
 | Project | Description |
@@ -60,7 +71,7 @@ dotnet run
 ## Contributing
 
 1. Follow Terminal.Gui [coding conventions](https://github.com/gui-cs/Terminal.Gui/blob/develop/CONTRIBUTING.md)
-2. Examples should reference Terminal.Gui via NuGet package (not ProjectReference)
+2. Examples reference Terminal.Gui via NuGet by default; use `TerminalGuiRoot` for local development
 3. Each example should have its own project directory with a descriptive name
 4. Include a README.md in each example explaining what it demonstrates