diff --git a/Contentless/Contentless.csproj b/Contentless/Contentless.csproj
index 4aa6ccd..2fe1e8a 100644
--- a/Contentless/Contentless.csproj
+++ b/Contentless/Contentless.csproj
@@ -9,4 +9,8 @@
       <ProjectReference Include="..\MonoGame\MonoGame.Framework.Content.Pipeline\MonoGame.Framework.Content.Pipeline.Windows.csproj" />
     </ItemGroup>
 
+    <ItemGroup>
+      <PackageReference Include="Newtonsoft.Json" Version="12.0.2" />
+    </ItemGroup>
+
 </Project>
diff --git a/Contentless/Program.cs b/Contentless/Program.cs
index 553440c..2f9d991 100644
--- a/Contentless/Program.cs
+++ b/Contentless/Program.cs
@@ -3,13 +3,13 @@ using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.IO;
 using System.Linq;
 using System.Reflection;
+using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
 using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Content.Pipeline;
+using Newtonsoft.Json;
 
 namespace Contentless {
     public static class Program {
 
-        private static readonly string[] ExcludedFolders = {"bin/", "obj/"};
-
         public static void Main(string[] args) {
             if (args.Length != 1) {
                 Console.WriteLine("Please specify the location of the content file you want to use");
@@ -25,6 +25,23 @@ namespace Contentless {
             Console.WriteLine($"Using content file {contentFile}");
             var content = ReadContent(contentFile);
 
+            // load config
+            var config = new Config();
+            var configFile = new FileInfo(Path.Combine(contentFile.DirectoryName, "Contentless.json"));
+            if (configFile.Exists) {
+                using (var stream = configFile.OpenText()) {
+                    try {
+                        config = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Config>(stream.ReadToEnd());
+                        Console.WriteLine($"Using config from {configFile}");
+                    } catch (Exception e) {
+                        Console.WriteLine($"Error loading config from {configFile}: {e}");
+                    }
+                }
+            } else {
+                Console.WriteLine("Using default config");
+            }
+            var excluded = Array.ConvertAll(config.ExcludedFiles, s => new Regex(s.Replace(".", "[.]").Replace("*", ".*").Replace("?", ".")));
+
             // load any references to be able to include custom content types as well
             foreach (var line in content) {
                 if (!line.StartsWith("/reference:"))
@@ -34,8 +51,8 @@ namespace Contentless {
                 try {
                     Assembly.LoadFrom(refPath);
                     Console.WriteLine($"Using reference {refPath}");
-                } catch (Exception) {
-                    Console.WriteLine($"Couldn't load reference {refPath}, file types that require this reference won't be added automatically");
+                } catch (Exception e) {
+                    Console.WriteLine($"Error loading reference {refPath}: {e}");
                 }
             }
 
@@ -45,13 +62,14 @@ namespace Contentless {
 
             var changed = false;
             foreach (var file in contentFile.Directory.EnumerateFiles("*", SearchOption.AllDirectories)) {
-                // is the file the content file?
-                if (file.Name == contentFile.Name)
+                // is the file the content or config file?
+                if (file.Name == contentFile.Name || file.Name == configFile.Name)
                     continue;
                 var relative = GetRelativePath(contentFile.DirectoryName, file.FullName).Replace("\\", "/");
 
                 // is the file in an excluded directory?
-                if (ExcludedFolders.Any(e => relative.Contains(e))) {
+                if (excluded.Any(e => e.IsMatch(relative))) {
+                    Console.WriteLine($"Skipping excluded file {relative}");
                     continue;
                 }
 
diff --git a/Test/Content/Content.mgcb b/Test/Content/Content.mgcb
index 3a18093..e34014a 100644
--- a/Test/Content/Content.mgcb
+++ b/Test/Content/Content.mgcb
@@ -65,3 +65,8 @@
 /processor:TiledMapTilesetProcessor
 /build:Tiled/Tileset.tsx
 
+#begin Contentless.json
+/importer:TexturePackerJsonImporter
+/processor:TexturePackerProcessor
+/build:Contentless.json
+
diff --git a/Test/Content/Contentless.json b/Test/Content/Contentless.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..00b87f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Test/Content/Contentless.json
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+{
+    "exclude": [
+        "obj/",
+        "bin/",
+        "Ex*.png"
+    ]
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Test/Content/Textures/Exclude.png b/Test/Content/Textures/Exclude.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1910a3f
Binary files /dev/null and b/Test/Content/Textures/Exclude.png differ