diff --git a/configuration.nix b/configuration.nix
index a38a2da..ce9b442 100644
--- a/configuration.nix
+++ b/configuration.nix
@@ -185,6 +185,7 @@ inputs: let
       };
 
       vim.ui = {
+        borders.enable = true;
         noice.enable = true;
         colorizer.enable = true;
         modes-nvim.enable = false; # the theme looks terrible with catppuccin
diff --git a/modules/ui/borders/borders.nix b/modules/ui/borders/borders.nix
index b11d2cd..f1fbd3c 100644
--- a/modules/ui/borders/borders.nix
+++ b/modules/ui/borders/borders.nix
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
 {lib, ...}: let
-  inherit (lib) mkEnableOption mkOption;
+  inherit (lib) mkEnableOption mkOption types;
 in {
   options.vim.ui.borders = {
-    enable = mkEnableOption "visible borders for most windows";
+    enable = mkOption {
+      type = types.bool;
+      default = true;
+      description = "visible borders for most windows";
+    };
 
     # TODO: make per-plugin borders configurable
   };
diff --git a/modules/ui/noice/config.nix b/modules/ui/noice/config.nix
index 705256b..a2e3008 100644
--- a/modules/ui/noice/config.nix
+++ b/modules/ui/noice/config.nix
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ in {
           command_palette = true, -- position the cmdline and popupmenu together
           long_message_to_split = true, -- long messages will be sent to a split
           inc_rename = false, -- enables an input dialog for inc-rename.nvim
-          lsp_doc_border = false, -- add a border to hover docs and signature help
+          lsp_doc_border = ${builtins.toString (config.vim.ui.borders.enable)}, -- add a border to hover docs and signature help
         },
 
         format = {