diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c5e01bf..73aaeb6 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -60,6 +60,10 @@ List of files to search for prerequisites. Supported formats are:
 
 Defaults to `MYMETA.json MYMETA.yml META.json META.yml Makefile cpanfile`.
 
+### `excludes`
+
+A list of regular expressions of prerequisites to exclude. One pattern per line.
+
 ## Outputs
 
 ### `perl`
diff --git a/action.yml b/action.yml
index c6ff610..a37530b 100644
--- a/action.yml
+++ b/action.yml
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@ inputs:
     description: 'Source files to check for prerequisites'
     required: false
     default: 'MYMETA.json MYMETA.yml META.json META.yml Makefile cpanfile'
+  exclude:
+    description: 'Patterns to exclude from returned prerequisites'
+    required: false
 
 outputs:
   perl:
diff --git a/src/get-prereqs.mjs b/src/get-prereqs.mjs
index eebcf94..4b25fad 100644
--- a/src/get-prereqs.mjs
+++ b/src/get-prereqs.mjs
@@ -10,12 +10,19 @@ import {
 } from './parser/meta.mjs';
 import { mergeVersions } from './cpan-versions.mjs';
 
-const filterPrereqs = ({ prereqs, phases, relationships, features }) => {
+const filterPrereqs = ({
+  prereqs,
+  phases,
+  relationships,
+  features,
+  excludes,
+}) => {
   return prereqs.filter(
     prereq =>
       phases.has(prereq.phase)
       && relationships.has(prereq.relationship)
-      && (!prereq.feature || features.includes(prereq.feature)),
+      && (!prereq.feature || features.includes(prereq.feature))
+      && !excludes.filter(ex => ex.exec(prereq.prereq)).length,
   );
 };
 
@@ -53,6 +60,7 @@ export const getPrereqs = async ({
   relationships = ['requires'],
   features = [],
   sources,
+  excludes = [],
 }) => {
   for (const source of sources) {
     const parser = parserFor(source);
@@ -72,11 +80,14 @@ export const getPrereqs = async ({
 
     const content = fh.readFile({ encoding: 'utf8' });
 
+    const allPrereqs = await parser(content);
+
     const filteredPrereqs = filterPrereqs({
-      prereqs:       await parser(content),
+      prereqs:       allPrereqs,
       phases:        new Set(phases),
       relationships: new Set(relationships),
       features:      new Set(features),
+      excludes,
     }).toSorted(sortByPrereq);
 
     const prereqs = {};
diff --git a/src/main.mjs b/src/main.mjs
index 1ef68ed..3e49da2 100644
--- a/src/main.mjs
+++ b/src/main.mjs
@@ -7,17 +7,20 @@ const run = async () => {
   const relationshipsInput = core.getInput('relationships');
   const featuresInput = core.getInput('features');
   const sourcesInput = core.getInput('sources');
+  const excludeInput = core.getMultilineInput('exclude');
 
   const phases = new Set(phasesInput.split(/\s+/));
   const relationships = new Set(relationshipsInput.split(/\s+/));
   const features = new Set(featuresInput.split(/\s+/));
   const sources = sourcesInput.split(/\s+/);
+  const excludes = excludeInput.filter(p => p.length).map(p => new RegExp(p));
 
   const { perl, ...prereqs } = await getPrereqs({
     phases,
     relationships,
     features,
     sources,
+    excludes,
   });
 
   if (perl) {
diff --git a/test/action.test.mjs b/test/action.test.mjs
index cfa4df0..22450b6 100644
--- a/test/action.test.mjs
+++ b/test/action.test.mjs
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ describe('GitHub action', function () {
       phases:        'test',
       relationships: 'recommends',
       features:      '',
+      excludes:      '',
     });
     expect(outputs).to.be.deep.equal({
       'prereqs':            'CPAN::Meta~2.120900\n',
diff --git a/test/get-prereqs.test.mjs b/test/get-prereqs.test.mjs
index 414fc7c..9bf0930 100644
--- a/test/get-prereqs.test.mjs
+++ b/test/get-prereqs.test.mjs
@@ -71,4 +71,26 @@ describe('getPrereqs', function () {
       'inc::bootstrap':                                 '>=0',
     });
   });
+
+  it('excludes applies correctly', async function () {
+    const filename = joinPath(__dirname, 'corpus', 'dist.ini');
+    const prereqs = await getPrereqs({
+      sources:  [filename],
+      phases:   ['author'],
+      excludes: [/^inc::/],
+    });
+    expect(prereqs).to.be.deep.equal({
+      'Dist::Zilla':                                    '>=5.0',
+      'Dist::Zilla::Plugin::GatherFile':                '>=0',
+      'Dist::Zilla::Plugin::Git::GatherDir':            '>=5',
+      'Dist::Zilla::Plugin::PodWeaver':                 '>=0',
+      'Dist::Zilla::PluginBundle::Basic':               '>=0,>=6',
+      'Dist::Zilla::PluginBundle::ConfigSlicer':        '>=0',
+      'Dist::Zilla::PluginBundle::Filter':              '>=2',
+      'Dist::Zilla::PluginBundle::Git::VersionManager': '>=0',
+      'Pod::Weaver::Plugin::StopWords':                 '>=0',
+      'Pod::Weaver::Section::Contributors':             '>=0',
+      'Software::License::Perl_5':                      '>=0',
+    });
+  });
 });