diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a901db9c..529b0e04 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,7 +10,9 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 ### Breaking
-- `custom/script`: now doesn't hide failing script if it's output is not changing ([`#2636`](https://github.com/polybar/polybar/issues/2636)). Somewhat similar behaviour can be imitated with `format-fail`, if necessary.
+- `custom/script`:
+  - now doesn't hide failing script if it's output is not changing ([`#2636`](https://github.com/polybar/polybar/issues/2636)). Somewhat similar behaviour can be imitated with `format-fail`, if necessary.
+  - If the `exec` command produced no output and exited with a non-zero exit code the module is no longer completely empty, but just has an empty `%output%` token. If you relied on this behavior to hide the module under certain circumstances, make sure the script exits with an exit code of zero. ([`#2857`](https://github.com/polybar/polybar/discussions/2857), [`#2861`](https://github.com/polybar/polybar/pull/2861))
 
 ### Build
 - Respect `CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX` when installing default config ([`#2770`](https://github.com/polybar/polybar/pull/2770))
@@ -33,6 +35,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - Added `enable-struts` option in bar section to enable/disable struts ([`#2769`](https://github.com/polybar/polybar/issues/2769), [`#2844`](https://github.com/polybar/polybar/pull/2844)) by [@VanillaViking](https://github.com/VanillaViking).
 
 ### Changed
+- `custom/script`: No longer produces a completely empty module if the `exec` command failed. It only produces an empty module if the script had a zero exit code. ([`#2857`](https://github.com/polybar/polybar/discussions/2857), [`#2861`](https://github.com/polybar/polybar/pull/2861))
 - `internal/fs`: Use `/` as a fallback if no mountpoints are specified ([`#2572`](https://github.com/polybar/polybar/issues/2572), [`#2705`](https://github.com/polybar/polybar/pull/2705))
 - `internal/backlight`:
   - Detect backlight if none specified ([`#2572`](https://github.com/polybar/polybar/issues/2572), [`#2728`](https://github.com/polybar/polybar/pull/2728))
diff --git a/src/modules/script.cpp b/src/modules/script.cpp
index ecdb0f0a..4ff9bebf 100644
--- a/src/modules/script.cpp
+++ b/src/modules/script.cpp
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ namespace modules {
 
     m_exit_status = data.exit_status;
 
-    if (data.output.empty()) {
+    if (data.output.empty() && m_exit_status == 0) {
       return "";
     }