diff --git a/compiler/options.nim b/compiler/options.nim
index 349f9dae16..6372cddac3 100644
--- a/compiler/options.nim
+++ b/compiler/options.nim
@@ -392,6 +392,23 @@ proc findModule*(modulename, currentModule: string): string =
     result = findFile(m)
   patchModule()
 
+proc findProjectNimFile*(pkg: string): string =
+  const extensions = [".nims", ".cfg", ".nimcfg", ".nimble"]
+  var candidates: seq[string] = @[]
+  for k, f in os.walkDir(pkg, relative=true):
+    if k == pcFile and f != "config.nims":
+      let (_, name, ext) = splitFile(f)
+      if ext in extensions:
+        let x = changeFileExt(pkg / name, ".nim")
+        if fileExists(x):
+          candidates.add x
+  for c in candidates:
+    # nim-foo foo  or  foo  nfoo
+    if (pkg in c) or (c in pkg): return c
+  if candidates.len >= 1:
+    return candidates[0]
+  return ""
+
 proc canonDynlibName(s: string): string =
   let start = if s.startsWith("lib"): 3 else: 0
   let ende = strutils.find(s, {'(', ')', '.'})
diff --git a/nimsuggest/nimsuggest.nim b/nimsuggest/nimsuggest.nim
index 2cf19925ce..0b66dfb404 100644
--- a/nimsuggest/nimsuggest.nim
+++ b/nimsuggest/nimsuggest.nim
@@ -556,7 +556,13 @@ proc processCmdLine*(pass: TCmdLinePass, cmd: string) =
         suggestMaxResults = parseInt(p.val)
       else: processSwitch(pass, p)
     of cmdArgument:
-      options.gProjectName = unixToNativePath(p.key)
+      let a = unixToNativePath(p.key)
+      if dirExists(a) and not fileExists(a.addFileExt("nim")):
+        options.gProjectName = findProjectNimFile(a)
+        # don't make it worse, report the error the old way:
+        if options.gProjectName.len == 0: options.gProjectName = a
+      else:
+        options.gProjectName = a
       # if processArgument(pass, p, argsCount): break
 
 proc handleCmdLine(cache: IdentCache; config: ConfigRef) =