diff --git a/pkg/commands/docker_test.go b/pkg/commands/docker_test.go
index 0d459686..db45a06f 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/docker_test.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/docker_test.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/docker/docker/client"
+	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazydocker/pkg/config"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 )
 
@@ -61,3 +62,30 @@ func TestNewDockerClientVersionNegotiation(t *testing.T) {
 			"client version should not be locked to DOCKER_API_VERSION env var")
 	})
 }
+
+// TestIsProjectScoped covers the predicate that drives whether the
+// project/services panels appear and whether the containers panel filters by
+// project. The "outside compose dir + -p" case is the regression we fixed
+// after PR #776 silently disabled it.
+func TestIsProjectScoped(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		name                   string
+		inDockerComposeProject bool
+		projectName            string
+		want                   bool
+	}{
+		{"inside compose dir, no -p", true, "", true},
+		{"inside compose dir, with -p", true, "myproject", true},
+		{"outside compose dir, no -p", false, "", false},
+		{"outside compose dir, with -p", false, "myproject", true},
+	}
+	for _, tc := range cases {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			c := &DockerCommand{
+				InDockerComposeProject: tc.inDockerComposeProject,
+				Config:                 &config.AppConfig{ProjectName: tc.projectName},
+			}
+			assert.Equal(t, tc.want, c.IsProjectScoped())
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/gui/containers_panel.go b/pkg/gui/containers_panel.go
index f9254b94..a638ee29 100644
--- a/pkg/gui/containers_panel.go
+++ b/pkg/gui/containers_panel.go
@@ -91,10 +91,10 @@ func (gui *Gui) getContainersPanel() *panels.SideListPanel[*commands.Container]
 			// Otherwise all containers are shown in a flat list regardless
 			// of which compose project they belong to.
 			if gui.DockerCommand.IsProjectScoped() {
-				// This check must be inside the InDockerComposeProject guard:
-				// outside a compose project, services are still derived from
-				// container labels, so compose-managed containers from other
-				// projects would be incorrectly hidden.
+				// This check must be inside the IsProjectScoped guard: when
+				// not project-scoped, services are still derived from container
+				// labels, so compose-managed containers from other projects
+				// would be incorrectly hidden.
 				//
 				// Note that this is O(N*M) time complexity where N is the number of services
 				// and M is the number of containers. We expect N to be small but M may be large,
diff --git a/pkg/gui/gui.go b/pkg/gui/gui.go
index e7b55463..6ea2ee6c 100644
--- a/pkg/gui/gui.go
+++ b/pkg/gui/gui.go
@@ -459,7 +459,7 @@ func (gui *Gui) ShouldRefresh(key string) bool {
 }
 
 func (gui *Gui) initiallyFocusedViewName() string {
-	if gui.DockerCommand.InDockerComposeProject {
+	if gui.DockerCommand.IsProjectScoped() {
 		return "services"
 	}
 	return "containers"
diff --git a/pkg/gui/project_panel.go b/pkg/gui/project_panel.go
index 13e281ca..e41f7b8f 100644
--- a/pkg/gui/project_panel.go
+++ b/pkg/gui/project_panel.go
@@ -94,18 +94,19 @@ func (gui *Gui) refreshProject() error {
 }
 
 // getDiscoveredProjects returns all docker compose projects by examining container labels.
-// The local project (from docker-compose.yml in the current directory) is included if
-// it has running containers or if InDockerComposeProject is true.
+// The local project (from docker-compose.yml in the current directory, or from -p) is
+// included even when it has no running containers, so the user always sees the project
+// they explicitly scoped to.
 func (gui *Gui) getDiscoveredProjects() []*commands.Project {
 	containers := gui.Panels.Containers.List.GetAllItems()
 	projectNames := gui.DockerCommand.GetProjectNames(containers)
 
-	// If we're in a docker compose project but it has no running containers,
-	// still include it. We don't fall back to the directory name here to avoid
+	// If we're scoped to a project but it has no running containers, still
+	// include it. We don't fall back to the directory name here to avoid
 	// briefly flashing the wrong project name on startup.
 	localName := gui.DockerCommand.LocalProjectName
 
-	if gui.DockerCommand.InDockerComposeProject && localName != "" {
+	if gui.DockerCommand.IsProjectScoped() && localName != "" {
 		found := false
 		for _, name := range projectNames {
 			if name == localName {
diff --git a/pkg/gui/views.go b/pkg/gui/views.go
index 95553f5a..f231c3c6 100644
--- a/pkg/gui/views.go
+++ b/pkg/gui/views.go
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ func (gui *Gui) createAllViews() error {
 
 	gui.Views.Containers.Highlight = true
 	gui.Views.Containers.SelBgColor = selectedLineBgColor
-	if gui.Config.UserConfig.Gui.ShowAllContainers || !gui.DockerCommand.InDockerComposeProject {
+	if gui.Config.UserConfig.Gui.ShowAllContainers || !gui.DockerCommand.IsProjectScoped() {
 		gui.Views.Containers.Title = gui.Tr.ContainersTitle
 	} else {
 		gui.Views.Containers.Title = gui.Tr.StandaloneContainersTitle