diff --git a/docs/build.rst b/docs/build.rst
index 05160e706c0..0470fb89e63 100644
--- a/docs/build.rst
+++ b/docs/build.rst
@@ -189,8 +189,10 @@ update-checking
        ./setup.py linux-package --update-check-interval=0
 
 shell-integration
-   |kitty| by default installs its :ref:`shell_integration` files into the user's
-   rc files. For a package, it might make more sense to distribute the shell
+   |kitty| by default injects its :ref:`shell_integration` code into the user's
+   shell using environment variables or (for bash only) modifying
+   the user's :file:`~/.bashrc` file.
+   For a package, it might make more sense to distribute the shell
    integration scripts into the system-wide shell vendor locations. The
    shell integration files are found in the :file:`shell-integration`
    directory. Copy them to the system wide shell vendor locations for each
@@ -198,5 +200,5 @@ shell-integration
 
        ./setup.py linux-package --shell-integration=enabled\ no-rc
 
-   This will prevent kitty from modifying the user's shell rc files to load
+   This will prevent kitty from modifying the user's shell environment to load
    the integration scripts.
diff --git a/docs/shell-integration.rst b/docs/shell-integration.rst
index d93f4d1f993..9d2159103ea 100644
--- a/docs/shell-integration.rst
+++ b/docs/shell-integration.rst
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ disabled
     turn off all shell integration
 
 no-rc
-    dont modify the shell's rc files to enable integration. Useful if you prefer
+    dont modify the shell's launch environment to enable integration. Useful if you prefer
     to :ref:`manually enable integration <manual_shell_integration>`.
 
 no-cursor
@@ -116,17 +116,23 @@ define the following in :file:`kitty.conf`:
 How it works
 -----------------
 
-At startup kitty detects if the shell you have configured (either system wide
+At startup, kitty detects if the shell you have configured (either system wide
 or in kitty.conf) is a supported shell. If so, kitty injects some shell specific
 code into the shell, to enable shell integration. How it does so varies for
 different shells.
 
 
-.. tab:: bash/zsh
+.. tab:: zsh
+
+   For zsh, kitty sets the ``ZDOTDIR`` environment variable to make zsh load
+   kitty's :file:`.zshenv` which in turn loads the shell integration code then
+   restores the original value of ``ZDOTDIR`` and finally sources the original
+   :file:`.zshenv`. The remainder of zsh's startup process proceeds as normal.
 
-    For these shells, kitty adds a couple of lines to
-    the bottom of the shell's rc files (in an atomic manner) to load the shell
-    integration code.
+.. tab:: bash
+
+    For bash, kitty adds a couple of lines to the bottom of :file:`~/.bashrc`
+    (in an atomic manner) to load the shell integration code.
 
 .. tab:: fish
 
@@ -178,9 +184,12 @@ code used for each shell below:
 Manual shell integration
 ----------------------------
 
-If you do not want to rely on kitty's automatic shell integration or if you
-want to setup shell integration for a remote system over SSH, in
-:file:`kitty.conf` set:
+The automatic shell integration is designed to be minimally intrusive, as such
+it wont work for sub-shells, terminal multiplexers, containers, remote systems, etc.
+For such systems, you should setup manual shell integration by adding some code
+to your shells startup files to load the shell integration script.
+
+First, in :file:`kitty.conf` set:
 
 .. code-block:: conf
 
@@ -203,7 +212,7 @@ Then in your shell's rc file, add the lines:
 
         if [[ ! -z "$KITTY_INSTALLATION_DIR" ]]; then
             export KITTY_SHELL_INTEGRATION="enabled"
-            source "$KITTY_INSTALLATION_DIR/shell-integration/kitty.zsh"
+            source "$KITTY_INSTALLATION_DIR/shell-integration/zsh/kitty.zsh"
         fi
 
 .. tab:: fish
diff --git a/kitty/shell_integration.py b/kitty/shell_integration.py
index 2deeea1d426..7a044f85669 100644
--- a/kitty/shell_integration.py
+++ b/kitty/shell_integration.py
@@ -49,10 +49,7 @@ def setup_integration(shell_name: str, rc_path: str, template: str = posix_templ
 
 
 def setup_zsh_integration(env: Dict[str, str]) -> None:
-    base = os.environ.get('ZDOTDIR', os.path.expanduser('~'))
-    rc = os.path.join(base, '.zshrc')
-    if os.path.exists(rc):  # dont prevent zsh-newuser-install from running
-        setup_integration('zsh', rc)
+    pass  # this is handled in the zsh env modifier
 
 
 def setup_bash_integration(env: Dict[str, str]) -> None:
@@ -74,13 +71,23 @@ def setup_fish_env(env: Dict[str, str]) -> None:
         env['XDG_DATA_DIRS'] = os.pathsep.join(dirs)
 
 
+def setup_zsh_env(env: Dict[str, str]) -> None:
+    zdotdir = os.environ.get('ZDOTDIR')
+    base = zdotdir or os.path.expanduser('~')
+    if zdotdir is not None:
+        env['KITTY_ORIG_ZDOTDIR'] = zdotdir
+    env['KITTY_ZSH_BASE'] = base
+    env['ZDOTDIR'] = os.path.join(shell_integration_dir, 'zsh')
+
+
 SUPPORTED_SHELLS = {
     'zsh': setup_zsh_integration,
     'bash': setup_bash_integration,
     'fish': setup_fish_integration,
 }
 ENV_MODIFIERS = {
-    'fish': setup_fish_env
+    'fish': setup_fish_env,
+    'zsh': setup_zsh_env,
 }
 
 
diff --git a/shell-integration/zsh/.zshenv b/shell-integration/zsh/.zshenv
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4682040261a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shell-integration/zsh/.zshenv
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+if [[ -o interactive && -v ZDOTDIR && -r "$ZDOTDIR/kitty.zsh" ]]; then source "$ZDOTDIR/kitty.zsh"; fi
+if [[ -v KITTY_ORIG_ZDOTDIR ]]; then
+    export ZDOTDIR="$KITTY_ORIG_ZDOTDIR"
+    unset KITTY_ORIG_ZDOTDIR
+else
+    unset ZDOTDIR
+fi
+if [[ -v KITTY_ZSH_BASE && -r "$KITTY_ZSH_BASE/.zshenv" ]]; then source "$KITTY_ZSH_BASE/.zshenv"; fi
+unset KITTY_ZSH_BASE
diff --git a/shell-integration/kitty.zsh b/shell-integration/zsh/kitty.zsh
similarity index 100%
rename from shell-integration/kitty.zsh
rename to shell-integration/zsh/kitty.zsh