diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 84035c6..d205f1f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -656,6 +656,17 @@ end
 Rails.configuration.middleware.insert_before AnotherMiddleware, Rodauth::Rails::Middleware
 ```
 
+### Skipping Tilt
+
+Rodauth uses the [Tilt] gem to render built-in view & email templates. If you don't want to have Tilt as a dependency, you can disable it, provided that you've imported all view & email templates into your app:
+
+```rb
+# config/initializers/rodauth.rb
+Rodauth::Rails.configure do |config|
+  config.tilt = false # skip loading Tilt gem
+end
+```
+
 ## How it works
 
 ### Rack middleware
diff --git a/lib/generators/rodauth/templates/config/initializers/rodauth.rb.tt b/lib/generators/rodauth/templates/config/initializers/rodauth.rb.tt
index a832109..99874f4 100644
--- a/lib/generators/rodauth/templates/config/initializers/rodauth.rb.tt
+++ b/lib/generators/rodauth/templates/config/initializers/rodauth.rb.tt
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
 Rodauth::Rails.configure do |config|
   config.app = "RodauthApp"
+  # config.middleware = false # disable auto-insertion of Rodauth middleware
+  # config.tilt = false # skip loading Tilt gem for rendering built-in templates
 end
diff --git a/lib/rodauth/rails.rb b/lib/rodauth/rails.rb
index 599ea8d..54d74cf 100644
--- a/lib/rodauth/rails.rb
+++ b/lib/rodauth/rails.rb
@@ -12,9 +12,6 @@ class Error < StandardError
     autoload :Auth, "rodauth/rails/auth"
     autoload :Mailer, "rodauth/rails/mailer"
 
-    @app = nil
-    @middleware = true
-
     class << self
       def lib(**options, &block)
         c = Class.new(Rodauth::Rails::App)
@@ -80,8 +77,13 @@ def configure
         yield self
       end
 
+      @app = nil
+      @middleware = true
+      @tilt = true
+
       attr_writer :app
       attr_writer :middleware
+      attr_writer :tilt
 
       def app
         fail Rodauth::Rails::Error, "app was not configured" unless @app
@@ -92,6 +94,10 @@ def app
       def middleware?
         @middleware
       end
+
+      def tilt?
+        @tilt
+      end
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/rodauth/rails/app.rb b/lib/rodauth/rails/app.rb
index ad91443..c0d6357 100644
--- a/lib/rodauth/rails/app.rb
+++ b/lib/rodauth/rails/app.rb
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ class App < Roda
       plugin :hooks
       plugin :pass
 
-      def self.configure(*args, **options, &block)
+      def self.configure(*args, render: Rodauth::Rails.tilt?, **options, &block)
         auth_class = args.shift if args[0].is_a?(Class)
         auth_class ||= Class.new(Rodauth::Rails::Auth)
         name = args.shift if args[0].is_a?(Symbol)
@@ -17,9 +17,9 @@ def self.configure(*args, **options, &block)
         fail ArgumentError, "need to pass optional Rodauth::Auth subclass and optional configuration name" if args.any?
 
         # we'll render Rodauth's built-in view templates within Rails layouts
-        plugin :render, layout: false unless options[:render] == false
+        plugin :render, layout: false unless render == false
 
-        plugin :rodauth, auth_class: auth_class, name: name, csrf: false, flash: false, json: true, **options, &block
+        plugin :rodauth, auth_class: auth_class, name: name, csrf: false, flash: false, json: true, render: render, **options, &block
 
         # we need to do it after request methods from rodauth have been included
         self::RodaRequest.include RequestMethods