diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 328526a..dc7ad69 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -121,6 +121,12 @@ Available field names within the string:
   - `{kernel}` = Original kernel name (name of the folder containing the kernel spec)
   - `{language}`  = Language (identical to `{0}`)
 
+- `enable_debugger`: Override kernelspec debugger metadata
+Default: None
+Possible values are:
+  - True: Override environment kernelspec metadata and set the debugger flag to `true`
+  - False: Override environment kernelspec metadata and set the debugger flag to `false`
+
 In order to pass a configuration option in the command line use ```python -m nb_conda_kernels list --CondaKernelSpecManager.env_filter="regex"``` where regex is the regular expression for filtering envs "this|that|and|that" works.
 To set it in jupyter config file, edit the jupyter configuration file (py or json) located in your ```jupyter --config-dir```
 - for `jupyter_config.py` - add a line "c.CondaKernelSpecManager.env_filter = 'regex'"
diff --git a/nb_conda_kernels/manager.py b/nb_conda_kernels/manager.py
index ca10539..9b49c5f 100644
--- a/nb_conda_kernels/manager.py
+++ b/nb_conda_kernels/manager.py
@@ -75,6 +75,9 @@ class CondaKernelSpecManager(KernelSpecManager):
 
         If None, the conda kernel specs will only be available dynamically on notebook editors.
         """)
+    enable_debugger = Bool(None, config=True, allow_none=True,
+                           help="Optional: Override debugger setting in kernelspec metadata. "
+                           "If this parameter is unset it will default to the source kernel metadata.")
 
     @validate("kernelspec_path")
     def _validate_kernelspec_path(self, proposal):
@@ -313,8 +316,10 @@ def _all_specs(self):
                 metadata = spec.get('metadata', {})
                 metadata.update({
                     'conda_env_name': env_name,
-                    'conda_env_path': env_path
+                    'conda_env_path': env_path,
                 })
+                if self.enable_debugger is not None:
+                    metadata.update({"debugger": self.enable_debugger})
                 spec['metadata'] = metadata
 
                 if self.kernelspec_path is not None:
diff --git a/tests/test_config.py b/tests/test_config.py
index 5a1e607..017ef05 100644
--- a/tests/test_config.py
+++ b/tests/test_config.py
@@ -241,5 +241,48 @@ def envs(*args):
             assert metadata[key] == value
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("kernelspec", [
+    {
+        "display_name": "xpython",
+        "argv": [
+            "@XPYTHON_KERNELSPEC_PATH@xpython",
+            "-f",
+            "{connection_file}"
+        ],
+        "language": "python",
+        "metadata": { "debugger": True }
+    }
+])
+def test_kernel_metadata_debugger_override(monkeypatch, tmp_path, kernelspec):
+
+    mock_info = {
+        'conda_prefix': '/'
+    }
+
+    def envs(*args):
+        return {
+            'env_name': str(tmp_path)
+        }
+
+    kernel_file = tmp_path / 'share' / 'jupyter' / 'kernels' / 'my_kernel' / 'kernel.json'
+    kernel_file.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    if sys.version_info >= (3, 0):
+        kernel_file.write_text(json.dumps(kernelspec))
+    else:
+        kernel_file.write_bytes(json.dumps(kernelspec))
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(CondaKernelSpecManager, "_conda_info", mock_info)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(CondaKernelSpecManager, "_all_envs", envs)
+
+    manager = CondaKernelSpecManager()
+    specs = manager._all_specs()
+    assert specs['conda-env-env_name-my_kernel']['metadata']['debugger'] is True
+
+    manager = CondaKernelSpecManager(enable_debugger=False)
+    specs = manager._all_specs()
+    assert specs['conda-env-env_name-my_kernel']['metadata']['debugger'] is False
+
+
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     test_configuration()