diff --git a/src/config.zig b/src/config.zig
index 3be645cc3..082c842c9 100644
--- a/src/config.zig
+++ b/src/config.zig
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ pub const formatEntry = formatter.formatEntry;
 pub const ClipboardAccess = Config.ClipboardAccess;
 pub const CopyOnSelect = Config.CopyOnSelect;
 pub const CustomShaderAnimation = Config.CustomShaderAnimation;
+pub const FontSyntheticStyle = Config.FontSyntheticStyle;
 pub const FontStyle = Config.FontStyle;
 pub const Keybinds = Config.Keybinds;
 pub const MouseShiftCapture = Config.MouseShiftCapture;
diff --git a/src/config/Config.zig b/src/config/Config.zig
index 6a9e9b3b3..3d2f881df 100644
--- a/src/config/Config.zig
+++ b/src/config/Config.zig
@@ -107,6 +107,38 @@ const c = @cImport({
 @"font-style-italic": FontStyle = .{ .default = {} },
 @"font-style-bold-italic": FontStyle = .{ .default = {} },
 
+/// Control whether Ghostty should synthesize a style if the requested style is
+/// not available in the specified font-family.
+///
+/// Ghostty can synthesize bold, italic, and bold italic styles if the font
+/// does not have a specific style. For bold, this is done by drawing an
+/// outline around the glyph of varying thickness. For italic, this is done by
+/// applying a slant to the glyph. For bold italic, both of these are applied.
+///
+/// Synthetic styles are not perfect and will generally not look as good
+/// as a font that has the style natively. However, they are useful to
+/// provide styled text when the font does not have the style.
+///
+/// Set this to "false" or "true" to disable or enable synthetic styles
+/// completely. You can disable specific styles using "no-bold", "no-italic",
+/// and "no-bold-italic". You can disable multiple styles by separating them
+/// with a comma. For example, "no-bold,no-italic".
+///
+/// Available style keys are: `bold`, `italic`, `bold-italic`.
+///
+/// If synthetic styles are disabled, then the regular style will be used
+/// instead if the requested style is not available. If the font has the
+/// requested style, then the font will be used as-is since the style is
+/// not synthetic.
+///
+/// Warning! An easy mistake is to disable `bold` or `italic` but not
+/// `bold-italic`. Disabling only `bold` or `italic` will NOT disable either
+/// in the `bold-italic` style. If you want to disable `bold-italic`, you must
+/// explicitly disable it. You cannot partially disable `bold-italic`.
+///
+/// By default, synthetic styles are enabled.
+@"font-synthetic-style": FontSyntheticStyle = .{},
+
 /// Apply a font feature. This can be repeated multiple times to enable multiple
 /// font features. You can NOT set multiple font features with a single value
 /// (yet).
@@ -3882,6 +3914,13 @@ pub const FontStyle = union(enum) {
     }
 };
 
+/// See `font-synthetic-style` for documentation.
+pub const FontSyntheticStyle = packed struct {
+    bold: bool = true,
+    italic: bool = true,
+    @"bold-italic": bool = true,
+};
+
 /// See "link" for documentation.
 pub const RepeatableLink = struct {
     const Self = @This();
diff --git a/src/font/Collection.zig b/src/font/Collection.zig
index 842867930..4601a012e 100644
--- a/src/font/Collection.zig
+++ b/src/font/Collection.zig
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ const Collection = @This();
 const std = @import("std");
 const assert = std.debug.assert;
 const Allocator = std.mem.Allocator;
+const config = @import("../config.zig");
 const font = @import("main.zig");
 const options = font.options;
 const DeferredFace = font.DeferredFace;
@@ -207,7 +208,11 @@ pub const CompleteError = Allocator.Error || error{
 /// This requires that a regular font face is already loaded.
 /// This is asserted. If a font style is missing, we will synthesize
 /// it if possible. Otherwise, we will use the regular font style.
-pub fn completeStyles(self: *Collection, alloc: Allocator) CompleteError!void {
+pub fn completeStyles(
+    self: *Collection,
+    alloc: Allocator,
+    synthetic_config: config.FontSyntheticStyle,
+) CompleteError!void {
     // If every style has at least one entry then we're done!
     // This is the most common case.
     empty: {
@@ -262,6 +267,12 @@ pub fn completeStyles(self: *Collection, alloc: Allocator) CompleteError!void {
     const italic_list = self.faces.getPtr(.italic);
     const have_italic = italic_list.count() > 0;
     if (!have_italic) italic: {
+        if (!synthetic_config.italic) {
+            log.info("italic style not available and synthetic italic disabled", .{});
+            try italic_list.append(alloc, .{ .alias = regular_entry });
+            break :italic;
+        }
+
         const synthetic = self.syntheticItalic(regular_entry) catch |err| {
             log.warn("failed to create synthetic italic, italic style will not be available err={}", .{err});
             try italic_list.append(alloc, .{ .alias = regular_entry });
@@ -276,6 +287,12 @@ pub fn completeStyles(self: *Collection, alloc: Allocator) CompleteError!void {
     const bold_list = self.faces.getPtr(.bold);
     const have_bold = bold_list.count() > 0;
     if (!have_bold) bold: {
+        if (!synthetic_config.bold) {
+            log.info("bold style not available and synthetic bold disabled", .{});
+            try bold_list.append(alloc, .{ .alias = regular_entry });
+            break :bold;
+        }
+
         const synthetic = self.syntheticBold(regular_entry) catch |err| {
             log.warn("failed to create synthetic bold, bold style will not be available err={}", .{err});
             try bold_list.append(alloc, .{ .alias = regular_entry });
@@ -290,6 +307,12 @@ pub fn completeStyles(self: *Collection, alloc: Allocator) CompleteError!void {
     // of the italic font. If we can't do that, we'll use the italic font.
     const bold_italic_list = self.faces.getPtr(.bold_italic);
     if (bold_italic_list.count() == 0) bold_italic: {
+        if (!synthetic_config.@"bold-italic") {
+            log.info("bold italic style not available and synthetic bold italic disabled", .{});
+            try bold_italic_list.append(alloc, .{ .alias = regular_entry });
+            break :bold_italic;
+        }
+
         // Prefer to synthesize on top of the face we already had. If we
         // have bold then we try to synthesize italic on top of bold.
         if (have_bold) {
@@ -759,7 +782,7 @@ test completeStyles {
     try testing.expect(c.getIndex('A', .bold, .{ .any = {} }) == null);
     try testing.expect(c.getIndex('A', .italic, .{ .any = {} }) == null);
     try testing.expect(c.getIndex('A', .bold_italic, .{ .any = {} }) == null);
-    try c.completeStyles(alloc);
+    try c.completeStyles(alloc, .{});
     try testing.expect(c.getIndex('A', .bold, .{ .any = {} }) != null);
     try testing.expect(c.getIndex('A', .italic, .{ .any = {} }) != null);
     try testing.expect(c.getIndex('A', .bold_italic, .{ .any = {} }) != null);
diff --git a/src/font/SharedGridSet.zig b/src/font/SharedGridSet.zig
index ef8feebc3..25d1f0410 100644
--- a/src/font/SharedGridSet.zig
+++ b/src/font/SharedGridSet.zig
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ pub fn ref(
         // Build our collection. This is the expensive operation that
         // involves finding fonts, loading them (maybe, some are deferred),
         // etc.
-        var c = try self.collection(&key, font_size);
+        var c = try self.collection(&key, font_size, config);
         errdefer c.deinit(self.alloc);
 
         // Setup our enabled/disabled styles
@@ -156,6 +156,7 @@ fn collection(
     self: *SharedGridSet,
     key: *const Key,
     size: DesiredSize,
+    config: *const DerivedConfig,
 ) !Collection {
     // A quick note on memory management:
     // - font_lib is owned by the SharedGridSet
@@ -300,7 +301,7 @@ fn collection(
 
     // Complete our styles to ensure we have something to satisfy every
     // possible style request.
-    try c.completeStyles(self.alloc);
+    try c.completeStyles(self.alloc, config.@"font-synthetic-style");
 
     return c;
 }
@@ -386,6 +387,7 @@ pub const DerivedConfig = struct {
     @"font-variation-italic": configpkg.RepeatableFontVariation,
     @"font-variation-bold-italic": configpkg.RepeatableFontVariation,
     @"font-codepoint-map": configpkg.RepeatableCodepointMap,
+    @"font-synthetic-style": configpkg.FontSyntheticStyle,
     @"adjust-cell-width": ?Metrics.Modifier,
     @"adjust-cell-height": ?Metrics.Modifier,
     @"adjust-font-baseline": ?Metrics.Modifier,
@@ -416,6 +418,7 @@ pub const DerivedConfig = struct {
             .@"font-variation-italic" = try config.@"font-variation-italic".clone(alloc),
             .@"font-variation-bold-italic" = try config.@"font-variation-bold-italic".clone(alloc),
             .@"font-codepoint-map" = try config.@"font-codepoint-map".clone(alloc),
+            .@"font-synthetic-style" = config.@"font-synthetic-style",
             .@"adjust-cell-width" = config.@"adjust-cell-width",
             .@"adjust-cell-height" = config.@"adjust-cell-height",
             .@"adjust-font-baseline" = config.@"adjust-font-baseline",