diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 03e64784..26741557 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -16,6 +16,13 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 ### Added
+
+* `-Dwith-docs=disabled|enabled|auto` meson command line option. When
+  disabled, no documentation will be installed. This includes man
+  pages as well as `README.md`, `CHANGELOG.md` and `LICENSE`. Defaults
+  to `enabled`.
+
+
 ### Changed
 ### Deprecated
 ### Removed
diff --git a/doc/meson.build b/doc/meson.build
index 1f017db4..b26acd65 100644
--- a/doc/meson.build
+++ b/doc/meson.build
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 sh = find_program('sh', native: true)
 
-scdoc = dependency('scdoc', native: true)
 scdoc_prog = find_program(scdoc.get_pkgconfig_variable('scdoc'), native: true)
 
 foreach man_src : [{'name': 'foot', 'section' : 1},
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index fc79f8a8..a882dd0b 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -60,6 +60,9 @@ wayland_client = dependency('wayland-client')
 wayland_cursor = dependency('wayland-cursor')
 xkb = dependency('xkbcommon')
 fontconfig = dependency('fontconfig')
+scdoc = dependency('scdoc', native: true, required: get_option('with-docs'))
+
+build_and_install_docs = scdoc.found()
 
 tllist = dependency('tllist', version: '>=1.0.4', fallback: 'tllist')
 fcft = dependency('fcft', version: ['>=2.3.0', '<3.0.0'], fallback: 'fcft')
@@ -157,21 +160,24 @@ custom_target(
   install: true,
   install_dir: join_paths(get_option('datadir'), 'terminfo'))
 
-install_data(
-  'LICENSE', 'README.md', 'CHANGELOG.md',
-  install_dir: join_paths(get_option('datadir'), 'doc', 'foot'))
 install_data(
   'foot.desktop', 'foot-server.desktop',
   install_dir: join_paths(get_option('datadir'), 'applications'))
 install_data('foot.ini', install_dir: join_paths(get_option('datadir'), 'foot'))
 
 subdir('completions')
-subdir('doc')
 subdir('icons')
 
-# summary(
-#   {
-#     '<feature>': false,
-#   },
-#   bool_yn: true
-# )
+if build_and_install_docs
+  install_data(
+    'LICENSE', 'README.md', 'CHANGELOG.md',
+    install_dir: join_paths(get_option('datadir'), 'doc', 'foot'))
+  subdir('doc')
+endif
+
+summary(
+  {
+    'Documentation': build_and_install_docs,
+  },
+  bool_yn: true
+)
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1e69f223
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+option('with-docs', type: 'feature', value: 'enabled',
+       description: 'generate and install documentation (man pages). Requires scdoc.')