diff --git a/bleep-cli/src/scala/bleep/Main.scala b/bleep-cli/src/scala/bleep/Main.scala
index bd288de2..b51489aa 100644
--- a/bleep-cli/src/scala/bleep/Main.scala
+++ b/bleep-cli/src/scala/bleep/Main.scala
@@ -317,10 +317,20 @@ object Main {
   def installTabCompletions(userPaths: UserPaths, logger: Logger): Opts[BleepCommand] =
     List(
       Opts.subcommand("install-tab-completions-bash", "Install tab completions for bash")(
-        Opts(commands.InstallBashTabCompletions(logger))
+        Opts
+          .flag("stdout", "send completion configuration to stdout")
+          .orFalse
+          .map { stdout =>
+            commands.InstallBashTabCompletions(logger, stdout)
+          }
       ),
       Opts.subcommand("install-tab-completions-zsh", "Install tab completions for zsh")(
-        Opts(commands.InstallZshTabCompletions(userPaths, logger))
+        Opts
+          .flag("stdout", "send completion configuration to stdout")
+          .orFalse
+          .map { stdout =>
+            commands.InstallZshTabCompletions(userPaths, logger, stdout)
+          }
       )
     ).foldK
 
diff --git a/bleep-cli/src/scala/bleep/commands/InstallBashTabCompletions.scala b/bleep-cli/src/scala/bleep/commands/InstallBashTabCompletions.scala
index fd47352a..111de540 100644
--- a/bleep-cli/src/scala/bleep/commands/InstallBashTabCompletions.scala
+++ b/bleep-cli/src/scala/bleep/commands/InstallBashTabCompletions.scala
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ package commands
 import bleep.internal.FileUtils
 import bleep.logging.Logger
 
-case class InstallBashTabCompletions(logger: Logger) extends BleepCommand {
+case class InstallBashTabCompletions(logger: Logger, stdout: Boolean) extends BleepCommand {
   override def run(): Either[BleepException, Unit] = {
     val programName = BleepExecutable.findCurrentBleep(logger) match {
       case Some(CoursierInstallation(scriptPath, _)) => scriptPath.getFileName.toString
@@ -15,13 +15,18 @@ case class InstallBashTabCompletions(logger: Logger) extends BleepCommand {
     }
     val customProgramName = if (programName == "bleep") None else Some(programName)
 
-    PatchRcFile(customProgramName, logger, FileUtils.Home / ".profile")(
+    val completionScript =
       s"""_${programName}_completions() {
         |  COMPREPLY=($$(bleep _complete "$${COMP_LINE}" "$${COMP_CWORD}" "$${COMP_POINT}"))
         |}
         |
         |complete -F _${programName}_completions $programName""".stripMargin
-    )
+
+    if (stdout) {
+      println(completionScript)
+    } else {
+      PatchRcFile(customProgramName, logger, FileUtils.Home / ".profile")(completionScript)
+    }
 
     Right(())
   }
diff --git a/bleep-cli/src/scala/bleep/commands/InstallZshTabCompletions.scala b/bleep-cli/src/scala/bleep/commands/InstallZshTabCompletions.scala
index 341938ab..237964b3 100644
--- a/bleep-cli/src/scala/bleep/commands/InstallZshTabCompletions.scala
+++ b/bleep-cli/src/scala/bleep/commands/InstallZshTabCompletions.scala
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import bleep.logging.Logger
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets
 import java.nio.file.Path
 
-case class InstallZshTabCompletions(userPaths: UserPaths, logger: Logger) extends BleepCommand {
+case class InstallZshTabCompletions(userPaths: UserPaths, logger: Logger, stdout: Boolean) extends BleepCommand {
   override def run(): Either[BleepException, Unit] = {
     val programName = BleepExecutable.findCurrentBleep(logger) match {
       case Some(CoursierInstallation(scriptPath, _)) => scriptPath.getFileName.toString
@@ -28,16 +28,19 @@ case class InstallZshTabCompletions(userPaths: UserPaths, logger: Logger) extend
     val completionScriptDir = userPaths.configDir / "zsh"
     val completionScriptDest = completionScriptDir / s"_$programName"
 
-    logger.info(s"Writing $completionScriptDest")
-    FileSync.softWriteBytes(completionScriptDest, completionScript.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8))
+    if (stdout) {
+      println(completionScript)
+    } else {
+      logger.info(s"Writing $completionScriptDest")
+      FileSync.softWriteBytes(completionScriptDest, completionScript.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)): Unit
+      val zshRc = Option(System.getenv("ZDOTDIR")).map(Path.of(_)).getOrElse(FileUtils.Home) / ".zshrc"
 
-    val zshRc = Option(System.getenv("ZDOTDIR")).map(Path.of(_)).getOrElse(FileUtils.Home) / ".zshrc"
-
-    PatchRcFile(None, logger, zshRc)(
-      s"""fpath=("$completionScriptDir" $$fpath)
+      PatchRcFile(None, logger, zshRc)(
+        s"""fpath=("$completionScriptDir" $$fpath)
          |compinit
          |""".stripMargin
-    )
+      )
+    }
 
     Right(())
   }