diff --git a/lisp/progmodes/project.el b/lisp/progmodes/project.el
index ac278edd40..48ed033fa1 100644
--- a/lisp/progmodes/project.el
+++ b/lisp/progmodes/project.el
@@ -175,8 +175,14 @@ project-find-functions
 `cl-defmethod' can dispatch on, like a cons cell, or a list, or a
 CL struct.")
 
-(defvar project-current-inhibit-prompt nil
-  "Non-nil to skip prompting the user in `project-current'.")
+(define-obsolete-variable-alias
+  'project-current-inhibit-prompt
+  'project-current-directory-override
+  "29.1")
+
+(defvar project-current-directory-override nil
+  "Value to use instead of `default-directory' when detecting the project.
+When it is non-nil, `project-current' will skip always skip prompting.")
 
 ;;;###autoload
 (defun project-current (&optional maybe-prompt directory)
@@ -195,11 +201,12 @@ project-current
 
 See the doc string of `project-find-functions' for the general form
 of the project instance object."
-  (unless directory (setq directory default-directory))
+  (unless directory (setq directory (or project-current-directory-override
+                                        default-directory)))
   (let ((pr (project--find-in-directory directory)))
     (cond
      (pr)
-     ((unless project-current-inhibit-prompt
+     ((unless project-current-directory-override
         maybe-prompt)
       (setq directory (project-prompt-project-dir)
             pr (project--find-in-directory directory))))
@@ -1667,8 +1674,7 @@ project-switch-project
   (let ((command (if (symbolp project-switch-commands)
                      project-switch-commands
                    (project--switch-project-command))))
-    (let ((default-directory dir)
-          (project-current-inhibit-prompt t))
+    (let ((project-current-directory-override dir))
       (call-interactively command))))
 
 (provide 'project)