diff --git a/modules/programs/kitty.nix b/modules/programs/kitty.nix
index 48ec13da..ffc66c5b 100644
--- a/modules/programs/kitty.nix
+++ b/modules/programs/kitty.nix
@@ -144,20 +144,20 @@ in {
     shellIntegration = {
       mode = mkOption {
         type = types.str;
         default = "no-rc";
         example = "no-cursor";
         apply = (o:
-          let
+          optionalString o (let
             modes = splitString " " o;
             filtered = filter (m: m != "no-rc") modes;
-          in concatStringsSep " " (concatLists [ [ "no-rc" ] filtered ]));
+          in concatStringsSep " " (concatLists [ [ "no-rc" ] filtered ])));
         description = ''
           Set the mode of the shell integration. This accepts the same options
           as the `shell_integration` option of Kitty. Note that
-          `no-rc` is always implied. See
+          `no-rc` is always implied if nonempty. See
           <https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/shell-integration>
           for more details.
         '';
       };
 
       enableBashIntegration = mkEnableOption "Kitty Bash integration"
@@ -200,16 +200,16 @@ in {
                   "${pkgs.kitty-themes}/share/kitty-themes/themes.json"));
             in throwIf (length matching == 0)
             "kitty-themes does not contain a theme named ${cfg.theme}"
             (head matching).file
           }
         '')
-        ''
+        (optionalString cfg.shellIntegration.mode ''
           # Shell integration is sourced and configured manually
           shell_integration ${cfg.shellIntegration.mode}
-        ''
+        '')
         (toKittyConfig cfg.settings)
         (toKittyKeybindings cfg.keybindings)
         (toKittyEnv cfg.environment)
         cfg.extraConfig
       ]);
     } // optionalAttrs pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform.isLinux {