diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index 5e49dee35..6510aa0e4 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -54,6 +54,10 @@ version 0.9.1 [future]
 
 - Fix tab title not changing to reflect the window title when switching between different windows in a tab
 
+- Ignore -e if it is specified on the command line. This is for compatibility
+  with broken software that assumes terminals should run with an -e option to
+  execute commands instead of just passing the commands as arguments. 
+
 
 version 0.9.0 [2018-04-15]
 ------------------------------
diff --git a/kitty/cli.py b/kitty/cli.py
index a7a5d70af..6d0d8b226 100644
--- a/kitty/cli.py
+++ b/kitty/cli.py
@@ -145,6 +145,11 @@ Print out information about the selection of fallback fonts for characters not p
 --debug-config
 type=bool-set
 Print out information about the system and kitty configuration.
+
+
+--execute -e
+type=bool-set
+!
 '''
 
 
@@ -330,12 +335,15 @@ def print_help_for_seq(seq, usage, message, appname):
         if isinstance(opt, str):
             a('{}:'.format(title(opt)))
             continue
+        help_text = opt['help']
+        if help_text == '!':
+            continue  # hidden option
         a('  ' + ', '.join(map(green, sorted(opt['aliases']))))
         if not opt.get('type', '').startswith('bool-'):
             blocks[-1] += '={}'.format(italic(opt['dest'].upper()))
         if opt.get('help'):
             defval = opt.get('default')
-            t = opt['help'].replace('%default', str(defval))
+            t = help_text.replace('%default', str(defval))
             wa(prettify(t.strip()), indent=4)
             if defval is not None:
                 wa('Default: {}'.format(defval), indent=4)