diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f902b2ed..c3393127 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -28,10 +28,11 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
   - `BUILD_POLYBAR=ON` - Builds the `polybar` executable
   - `BUILD_POLYBAR_MSG=ON` - Builds the `polybar-msg` executable
   - `BUILD_TESTS=OFF` - Builds the test suite
-  - `BUILD_CONFIG=ON` - Generate sample config
   - `BUILD_DOC=ON` - Builds the documentation
   - `BUILD_DOC_HTML=BUILD_DOC` - Builds the html documentation (depends on `BUILD_DOC`)
   - `BUILD_DOC_MAN=BUILD_DOC` - Builds the manpages (depends on `BUILD_DOC`)
+  - `BUILD_CONFIG=ON` - Generate sample config
+  - `BUILD_SHELL=ON` - Generate shell completion files
   - `DISABLE_ALL=OFF` - Disables all above targets by default. Individual
     targets can still be enabled explicitly.
 - The documentation can no longer be built by directly configuring the `doc`
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 816d9f66..3823d5ea 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -38,8 +38,10 @@ if(BUILD_DOC)
   add_subdirectory(doc)
 endif()
 
-add_subdirectory(contrib/bash)
-add_subdirectory(contrib/zsh)
+if (BUILD_SHELL)
+  add_subdirectory(contrib/bash)
+  add_subdirectory(contrib/zsh)
+endif()
 
 # Setup everything that uses a C++ compile (polybar, polybar-msg, tests)
 if(HAS_CXX_COMPILATION)
diff --git a/cmake/01-core.cmake b/cmake/01-core.cmake
index e52acd9e..fe0032e5 100644
--- a/cmake/01-core.cmake
+++ b/cmake/01-core.cmake
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ option(BUILD_POLYBAR_MSG "Build polybar-msg" ${DEFAULT_ON})
 option(BUILD_TESTS "Build testsuite" OFF)
 option(BUILD_DOC "Build documentation" ${DEFAULT_ON})
 option(BUILD_CONFIG "Generate sample configuration" ${DEFAULT_ON})
+option(BUILD_SHELL "Generate shell completion files" ${DEFAULT_ON})
 
 include(CMakeDependentOption)
 CMAKE_DEPENDENT_OPTION(BUILD_DOC_HTML "Build HTML documentation" ON "BUILD_DOC" OFF)
diff --git a/cmake/05-summary.cmake b/cmake/05-summary.cmake
index 2144b702..9c3504eb 100644
--- a/cmake/05-summary.cmake
+++ b/cmake/05-summary.cmake
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ colored_option("   documentation" BUILD_DOC)
 colored_option("      html" BUILD_DOC_HTML)
 colored_option("      man" BUILD_DOC_MAN)
 colored_option("   sample config" BUILD_CONFIG)
+colored_option("   shell files" BUILD_SHELL)
 
 if (BUILD_LIBPOLY)
   message(STATUS " Module support:")