  We present the design of an inductively shunted transmon qubit with
flux-tunable coupling to an embedded harmonic mode. This circuit construction
offers the possibility to flux-choose between pure transverse and pure
longitudinal coupling, that is coupling to the $\sigma_x$ or $\sigma_z$ degree
of freedom of the qubit. While transverse coupling is the coupling type that is
most commonly used for superconducting qubits, the inherently different
longitudinal coupling has some remarkable advantages both for readout and for
the scalability of a circuit. Being able to choose between both kinds of
coupling in the same circuit provides the flexibility to use one for coupling
to the next qubit and one for readout, or vice versa. We provide a detailed
analysis of the system's behavior using realistic parameters, along with a
proposal for the physical implementation of a prototype device.
