diff --git a/direnvrc b/direnvrc
index 60dafc1..65e8f59 100644
--- a/direnvrc
+++ b/direnvrc
@@ -204,6 +204,9 @@ nix_direnv_watch_file() {
 
 _nix_direnv_watches() {
   local -n _watches=$1
+  if [[ -z "${DIRENV_WATCHES-}" ]]; then
+    return
+  fi
   while IFS= read -r line; do
     local regex='"path": "(.+)"$'
     if [[ "$line" =~ $regex ]]; then