diff --git a/cmd/skaffold/app/cmd/init.go b/cmd/skaffold/app/cmd/init.go
index e659fca3c28..d05f706fe5a 100644
--- a/cmd/skaffold/app/cmd/init.go
+++ b/cmd/skaffold/app/cmd/init.go
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ var (
 	cliKubernetesManifests   []string
 	skipBuild                bool
 	skipDeploy               bool
+	skipUnreachableDirs      bool
 	force                    bool
 	analyze                  bool
 	enableJibInit            bool
@@ -70,6 +71,7 @@ func NewCmdInit() *cobra.Command {
 			{Value: &enableBuildpacksInit, Name: "XXenableBuildpacksInit", DefValue: true, Usage: "", Hidden: true, IsEnum: true},
 			{Value: &buildpacksBuilder, Name: "XXdefaultBuildpacksBuilder", DefValue: "gcr.io/buildpacks/builder:v1", Usage: "", Hidden: true},
 			{Value: &enableManifestGeneration, Name: "generate-manifests", DefValue: false, Usage: "Allows skaffold to try and generate basic kubernetes resources to get your project started", IsEnum: true},
+			{Value: &skipUnreachableDirs, Name: "skip-unreachable-dirs", DefValue: false, Usage: "Instead of erroring, it will skip the directories that cannot be accessed due to permissions", IsEnum: true},
 		}).
 		NoArgs(doInit)
 }
@@ -83,6 +85,7 @@ func doInit(ctx context.Context, out io.Writer) error {
 		CliKubernetesManifests:   cliKubernetesManifests,
 		SkipBuild:                skipBuild,
 		SkipDeploy:               skipDeploy,
+		SkipUnreachableDirs:      skipUnreachableDirs,
 		Force:                    force,
 		Analyze:                  analyze,
 		EnableJibInit:            enableJibInit,
diff --git a/docs-v2/content/en/docs/references/cli/_index.md b/docs-v2/content/en/docs/references/cli/_index.md
index 352d9c8e3c6..0ad42e28ca8 100644
--- a/docs-v2/content/en/docs/references/cli/_index.md
+++ b/docs-v2/content/en/docs/references/cli/_index.md
@@ -1073,6 +1073,7 @@ Options:
   -m, --module=[]: Filter Skaffold configs to only the provided named modules
       --remote-cache-dir='': Specify the location of the remote cache (default $HOME/.skaffold/remote-cache)
       --skip-build=false: Skip generating build artifacts in Skaffold config
+      --skip-unreachable-dirs=false: Instead of erroring, it will skip the directories that cannot be accessed due to permissions
       --sync-remote-cache='always': Controls how Skaffold manages the remote config cache (see `remote-cache-dir`). One of `always` (default), `missing`, or `never`. `always` syncs remote repositories to latest on access. `missing` only clones remote repositories if they do not exist locally. `never` means the user takes responsibility for updating remote repositories.
 
 Usage:
@@ -1096,6 +1097,7 @@ Env vars:
 * `SKAFFOLD_MODULE` (same as `--module`)
 * `SKAFFOLD_REMOTE_CACHE_DIR` (same as `--remote-cache-dir`)
 * `SKAFFOLD_SKIP_BUILD` (same as `--skip-build`)
+* `SKAFFOLD_SKIP_UNREACHABLE_DIRS` (same as `--skip-unreachable-dirs`)
 * `SKAFFOLD_SYNC_REMOTE_CACHE` (same as `--sync-remote-cache`)
 
 ### skaffold options
diff --git a/integration/init_test.go b/integration/init_test.go
index 42964518585..8f9d245ebdd 100644
--- a/integration/init_test.go
+++ b/integration/init_test.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package integration
 
 import (
 	"errors"
+	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
 	"path/filepath"
@@ -211,3 +212,46 @@ func exitCode(err error) int {
 
 	return 1
 }
+
+func TestInitWithDirWithoutReadPerms(t *testing.T) {
+	MarkIntegrationTest(t, CanRunWithoutGcp)
+	tests := []struct {
+		description string
+		shouldFail  bool
+		flags       []string
+		dir         string
+		dirToCreate string
+	}{
+		{
+			description: "without --skip-unreachable-dirs flag, should fail",
+			shouldFail:  true,
+			flags:       []string{"--analyze"},
+			dir:         "testdata/getting-started/",
+			dirToCreate: "dir1",
+		},
+		{
+			description: "with --skip-unreachable-dirs flag, shouldn't fail",
+			shouldFail:  false,
+			flags:       []string{"--analyze", "--skip-unreachable-dirs"},
+			dir:         "testdata/getting-started",
+			dirToCreate: "dir2",
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, test := range tests {
+		testutil.Run(t, test.description, func(t *testutil.T) {
+			tmpDir := testutil.NewTempDir(t.T)
+			copyFiles(tmpDir.Root(), test.dir)
+
+			dirWithoutReadPerms := filepath.Join(tmpDir.Root(), test.dirToCreate)
+			os.MkdirAll(dirWithoutReadPerms, 0377)
+			defer os.Remove(dirWithoutReadPerms)
+
+			output, err := skaffold.Init(test.flags...).InDir(tmpDir.Root()).RunWithCombinedOutput(t.T)
+			t.CheckError(test.shouldFail, err)
+			if test.shouldFail {
+				t.CheckDeepEqual(fmt.Sprintf("open %v: permission denied\n", test.dirToCreate), string(output))
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/skaffold/initializer/analyze/analyze.go b/pkg/skaffold/initializer/analyze/analyze.go
index e8aad272cfd..23e658a0c55 100644
--- a/pkg/skaffold/initializer/analyze/analyze.go
+++ b/pkg/skaffold/initializer/analyze/analyze.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package analyze
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"errors"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"sort"
@@ -41,12 +42,13 @@ type analyzer interface {
 }
 
 type ProjectAnalysis struct {
-	configAnalyzer    *skaffoldConfigAnalyzer
-	kubeAnalyzer      *kubeAnalyzer
-	kustomizeAnalyzer *kustomizeAnalyzer
-	helmAnalyzer      *helmAnalyzer
-	builderAnalyzer   *builderAnalyzer
-	maxFileSize       int64
+	configAnalyzer      *skaffoldConfigAnalyzer
+	kubeAnalyzer        *kubeAnalyzer
+	kustomizeAnalyzer   *kustomizeAnalyzer
+	helmAnalyzer        *helmAnalyzer
+	builderAnalyzer     *builderAnalyzer
+	maxFileSize         int64
+	skipUnreachableDirs bool
 }
 
 type HelmChartInfo struct {
@@ -114,7 +116,8 @@ func NewAnalyzer(c config.Config) *ProjectAnalysis {
 			analyzeMode:  c.Analyze,
 			targetConfig: c.Opts.ConfigurationFile,
 		},
-		maxFileSize: c.MaxFileSize,
+		maxFileSize:         c.MaxFileSize,
+		skipUnreachableDirs: c.SkipUnreachableDirs,
 	}
 }
 
@@ -127,6 +130,10 @@ func (a *ProjectAnalysis) Analyze(dir string) error {
 	}
 
 	dirents, err := godirwalk.ReadDirents(dir, nil)
+	if errors.Is(err, os.ErrPermission) && a.skipUnreachableDirs {
+		log.Entry(context.TODO()).Debugf("skipping directory %s due to permissions error", dir)
+		return nil
+	}
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/skaffold/initializer/config/config.go b/pkg/skaffold/initializer/config/config.go
index f3ef215eefa..6d97f59a13a 100644
--- a/pkg/skaffold/initializer/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/skaffold/initializer/config/config.go
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	CliKubernetesManifests   []string
 	SkipBuild                bool
 	SkipDeploy               bool
+	SkipUnreachableDirs      bool
 	Force                    bool
 	Analyze                  bool
 	EnableJibInit            bool // TODO: Remove this parameter