diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 02b74e6..4732b53 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/) and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 
+## [Unreleased]
+### Added
+- Adds `gitlens.gitExplorer.enabled` setting to specify whether or not to show the `GitLens` custom view - closes [#144](https://github.com/eamodio/vscode-gitlens/issues/144)
+
 ## [5.1.0] - 2017-09-15
 ### Added
 - Adds full (multi-line) commit message to the `details` hover annotations -- closes [#116](https://github.com/eamodio/vscode-gitlens/issues/116)
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6cf0e98..3aca2e2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -350,6 +350,7 @@ GitLens is highly customizable and provides many configuration settings to allow
 
 |Name | Description
 |-----|------------
+|`gitlens.gitExplorer.enabled`|Specifies whether or not to show the `GitLens` custom view"
 |`gitlens.gitExplorer.view`|Specifies the starting view (mode) of the `GitLens` custom view<br />`history` - shows the commit history of the active file<br />`repository` - shows a repository explorer"
 |`gitlens.gitExplorer.showTrackingBranch`|Specifies whether or not to show the tracking branch when displaying local branches in the `GitLens` custom view"
 |`gitlens.gitExplorer.commitFormat`|Specifies the format of committed changes in the `GitLens` custom view<br />Available tokens<br /> ${id} - commit id<br /> ${author} - commit author<br /> ${message} - commit message<br /> ${ago} - relative commit date (e.g. 1 day ago)<br /> ${date} - formatted commit date (format specified by `gitlens.statusBar.dateFormat`)<br /> ${authorAgo} - commit author, relative commit date<br />See https://github.com/eamodio/vscode-gitlens/wiki/Advanced-Formatting for advanced formatting
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 2110d6b..ea61120 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -423,6 +423,11 @@
                     "default": "${filePath}",
                     "description": "Specifies the format of a committed file in the `GitLens` custom view\nAvailable tokens\n ${file} - file name\n ${filePath} - file name and path\n ${path} - file path"
                 },
+                "gitlens.gitExplorer.enabled": {
+                    "type": "boolean",
+                    "default": true,
+                    "description": "Specifies whether or not to show the `GitLens` custom view"
+                },
                 "gitlens.gitExplorer.showTrackingBranch": {
                     "type": "boolean",
                     "default": true,
@@ -1841,7 +1846,7 @@
                 {
                     "id": "gitlens.gitExplorer",
                     "name": "GitLens",
-                    "when": "gitlens:enabled"
+                    "when": "gitlens:enabled && config.gitlens.gitExplorer.enabled"
                 }
             ]
         }
diff --git a/src/configuration.ts b/src/configuration.ts
index b435cff..935cc02 100644
--- a/src/configuration.ts
+++ b/src/configuration.ts
@@ -317,6 +317,7 @@ export interface IConfig {
     defaultDateFormat: string | null;
 
     gitExplorer: {
+        enabled: boolean;
         view: GitExplorerView;
         showTrackingBranch: boolean;
         commitFormat: string;