diff --git a/modules/programs/zsh/history.nix b/modules/programs/zsh/history.nix
index 3b766d62b5c3..28dc9f80963d 100644
--- a/modules/programs/zsh/history.nix
+++ b/modules/programs/zsh/history.nix
@@ -18,6 +18,12 @@ in
         { config, ... }:
         {
           options = {
+            enableConfig = lib.mkOption {
+              type = types.bool;
+              default = true;
+              description = "let home-manager configure history settings";
+            };
+
             append = mkOption {
               type = types.bool;
               default = false;
@@ -170,7 +176,7 @@ in
       };
     };
 
-  config = {
+  config = lib.mkIf cfg.history.enableConfig {
     warnings =
       lib.optionals (!lib.hasPrefix "/" cfg.history.path && !lib.hasInfix "$" cfg.history.path)
         [
diff --git a/tests/modules/programs/zsh/default.nix b/tests/modules/programs/zsh/default.nix
index b1b090b057a6..3b712932261b 100644
--- a/tests/modules/programs/zsh/default.nix
+++ b/tests/modules/programs/zsh/default.nix
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
   zsh-dotdir-default = import ./dotdir.nix "default";
   zsh-dotdir-relative = import ./dotdir.nix "relative";
   zsh-dotdir-shell-variable = import ./dotdir.nix "shell-variable";
+  zsh-history-disable-config = ./history-disable-config.nix;
   zsh-history-ignore-pattern = ./history-ignore-pattern.nix;
   zsh-history-path-absolute = import ./history-path.nix "absolute";
   zsh-history-path-default = import ./history-path.nix "default";
diff --git a/tests/modules/programs/zsh/history-disable-config.nix b/tests/modules/programs/zsh/history-disable-config.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..ddc44cfbabec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/modules/programs/zsh/history-disable-config.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+{
+  programs.zsh = {
+    enable = true;
+    history.enableConfig = false;
+  };
+
+  nmt.script = ''
+    assertFileNotRegex home-files/.zshrc "setopt HIST_.*"
+  '';
+}