diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 0ba0879f5..d3f9f8533 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ To update |kitty|, :doc:`follow the instructions <binary>`.
 - panel kitten: Fix the contents of the panel kitten not being positioned
   correctly on the vertical axis
 
+- icat kitten: Fix a regression that broke passing directories to icat
+  (:iss:`1683`)
+
 - Linux: Disable the Wayland backend on GNOME by default as GNOME has no
   support for server side decorations. Can be controlled by
   :opt:`linux_display_server`.
diff --git a/kittens/icat/main.py b/kittens/icat/main.py
index cff2bbdb2..74913a3ac 100755
--- a/kittens/icat/main.py
+++ b/kittens/icat/main.py
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ help_text = (
 usage = 'image-file-or-url-or-directory ...'
 
 
-def process_single_item(item, args, url_pat, maybe_dir=True):
+def process_single_item(item, args, url_pat=None, maybe_dir=True):
     is_tempfile = False
     try:
         if isinstance(item, bytes):
@@ -278,7 +278,7 @@ def process_single_item(item, args, url_pat, maybe_dir=True):
             tf.write(item), tf.close()
             item = tf.name
             is_tempfile = True
-        if url_pat.match(item) is not None:
+        if url_pat is not None and url_pat.match(item) is not None:
             from urllib.request import urlretrieve
             with NamedTemporaryFile(prefix='url-image-data-', delete=False) as tf:
                 try:
@@ -300,8 +300,8 @@ def process_single_item(item, args, url_pat, maybe_dir=True):
             process(item, args, is_tempfile)
         else:
             if maybe_dir and os.path.isdir(item):
-                for x in scan(item):
-                    process_single_item(item, args, url_pat, maybe_dir=False)
+                for (x, mt) in scan(item):
+                    process_single_item(x, args, url_pat=None, maybe_dir=False)
             else:
                 process(item, args, is_tempfile)
     finally: