diff --git a/doc/manual/generate-settings.nix b/doc/manual/generate-settings.nix
index 8736bb7933f..9ccabee902d 100644
--- a/doc/manual/generate-settings.nix
+++ b/doc/manual/generate-settings.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 let
-  inherit (builtins) attrValues concatStringsSep isAttrs isBool mapAttrs;
+  inherit (builtins) attrValues concatStringsSep isAttrs isBool isString mapAttrs;
   inherit (import ./utils.nix) concatStrings indent optionalString squash;
 in
 
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ in
 
 let
 
-  showSetting = prefix: setting: { description, documentDefault, defaultValue, aliases, value, experimentalFeature }:
+  showSetting = prefix: setting: { description, defaultValue, defaultText, aliases, value, experimentalFeature }:
     let
       result = squash ''
           - ${item}
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ let
 
           ${experimentalFeatureNote}
 
-          **Default:** ${showDefault documentDefault defaultValue}
+          **Default:** ${if isString defaultText then defaultText else showDefault defaultValue}
 
           ${showAliases aliases}
         '';
@@ -45,17 +45,15 @@ let
           ```
         '';
 
-      showDefault = documentDefault: defaultValue:
-        if documentDefault then
-          # a StringMap value type is specified as a string, but
-          # this shows the value type. The empty stringmap is `null` in
-          # JSON, but that converts to `{ }` here.
-          if defaultValue == "" || defaultValue == [] || isAttrs defaultValue
-            then "*empty*"
-            else if isBool defaultValue then
-              if defaultValue then "`true`" else "`false`"
-            else "`${toString defaultValue}`"
-        else "*machine-specific*";
+      showDefault = defaultValue:
+        # a StringMap value type is specified as a string, but
+        # this shows the value type. The empty stringmap is `null` in
+        # JSON, but that converts to `{ }` here.
+        if defaultValue == "" || defaultValue == [] || isAttrs defaultValue
+          then "*empty*"
+          else if isBool defaultValue then
+            if defaultValue then "`true`" else "`false`"
+          else "`${toString defaultValue}`";
 
       showAliases = aliases:
           optionalString (aliases != [])
diff --git a/src/libfetchers/fetch-settings.hh b/src/libfetchers/fetch-settings.hh
index 6108a179cda..732d8add2be 100644
--- a/src/libfetchers/fetch-settings.hh
+++ b/src/libfetchers/fetch-settings.hh
@@ -77,16 +77,16 @@ struct FetchSettings : public Config
 
           When empty, disables the global flake registry.
         )",
-        {}, true, Xp::Flakes};
+        {}, std::nullopt, Xp::Flakes};
 
 
     Setting<bool> useRegistries{this, true, "use-registries",
         "Whether to use flake registries to resolve flake references.",
-        {}, true, Xp::Flakes};
+        {}, std::nullopt, Xp::Flakes};
 
     Setting<bool> acceptFlakeConfig{this, false, "accept-flake-config",
         "Whether to accept nix configuration from a flake without prompting.",
-        {}, true, Xp::Flakes};
+        {}, std::nullopt, Xp::Flakes};
 
     Setting<std::string> commitLockFileSummary{
         this, "", "commit-lockfile-summary",
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ struct FetchSettings : public Config
           The commit summary to use when committing changed flake lock files. If
           empty, the summary is generated based on the action performed.
         )",
-        {}, true, Xp::Flakes};
+        {}, std::nullopt, Xp::Flakes};
 };
 
 // FIXME: don't use a global variable.
diff --git a/src/libstore/globals.hh b/src/libstore/globals.hh
index 12fb48d9383..ab42e271f31 100644
--- a/src/libstore/globals.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/globals.hh
@@ -21,8 +21,9 @@ struct MaxBuildJobsSetting : public BaseSetting<unsigned int>
         unsigned int def,
         const std::string & name,
         const std::string & description,
-        const std::set<std::string> & aliases = {})
-        : BaseSetting<unsigned int>(def, true, name, description, aliases)
+        const std::set<std::string> & aliases = {},
+        const std::optional<std::string> defaultText = std::nullopt)
+        : BaseSetting<unsigned int>(def, name, description, aliases, defaultText)
     {
         options->addSetting(this);
     }
@@ -38,8 +39,9 @@ struct PluginFilesSetting : public BaseSetting<Paths>
         const Paths & def,
         const std::string & name,
         const std::string & description,
-        const std::set<std::string> & aliases = {})
-        : BaseSetting<Paths>(def, true, name, description, aliases)
+        const std::set<std::string> & aliases = {},
+        const std::optional<std::string> defaultText = std::nullopt)
+        : BaseSetting<Paths>(def, name, description, aliases, defaultText)
     {
         options->addSetting(this);
     }
@@ -183,7 +185,7 @@ public:
           command line switch and defaults to `1`. The value `0` means that
           the builder should use all available CPU cores in the system.
         )",
-        {"build-cores"}, false};
+        {"build-cores"}, "`0`"};
 
     /**
      * Read-only mode.  Don't copy stuff to the store, don't change
@@ -260,7 +262,7 @@ public:
         R"(
           A semicolon-separated list of build machines.
           For the exact format and examples, see [the manual chapter on remote builds](../advanced-topics/distributed-builds.md)
-        )"};
+        )", {}, "`@$NIX_CONF_DIR/machines`"};
 
     Setting<bool> alwaysAllowSubstitutes{
         this, false, "always-allow-substitutes",
@@ -295,7 +297,7 @@ public:
         )"};
 
     Setting<bool> useSQLiteWAL{this, !isWSL1(), "use-sqlite-wal",
-        "Whether SQLite should use WAL mode."};
+        "Whether SQLite should use WAL mode.", {}, "`false` if using WSL1, `true` otherwise"};
 
     Setting<bool> syncBeforeRegistering{this, false, "sync-before-registering",
         "Whether to call `sync()` before registering a path as valid."};
@@ -341,10 +343,8 @@ public:
           `NIX_REMOTE` is empty, the uid under which the Nix daemon runs if
           `NIX_REMOTE` is `daemon`). Obviously, this should not be used
           with a nix daemon accessible to untrusted clients.
-
-          Defaults to `nixbld` when running as root, *empty* otherwise.
         )",
-        {}, false};
+        {}, "`nixbld` when running as root, *empty* otherwise"};
 
     Setting<bool> autoAllocateUids{this, false, "auto-allocate-uids",
         R"(
@@ -352,7 +352,7 @@ public:
           users in `build-users-group`.
 
           UIDs are allocated starting at 872415232 (0x34000000) on Linux and 56930 on macOS.
-        )", {}, true, Xp::AutoAllocateUids};
+        )", {}, std::nullopt, Xp::AutoAllocateUids};
 
     Setting<uint32_t> startId{this,
         #if __linux__
@@ -699,7 +699,7 @@ public:
 
           Build systems will usually detect the target platform to be the current physical system and therefore produce machine code incompatible with what may be intended in the derivation.
           You should design your derivation's `builder` accordingly and cross-check the results when using this option against natively-built versions of your derivation.
-        )", {}, false};
+        )", {}, "*machine-specific*"};
 
     Setting<StringSet> systemFeatures{
         this,
@@ -744,7 +744,7 @@ public:
             [nspawn]: https://github.com/NixOS/nix/blob/67bcb99700a0da1395fa063d7c6586740b304598/tests/systemd-nspawn.nix.
 
             Included by default on Linux if the [`auto-allocate-uids`](#conf-auto-allocate-uids) setting is enabled.
-        )", {}, false};
+        )", {}, "*machine-specific*"};
 
     Setting<Strings> substituters{
         this,
@@ -878,8 +878,7 @@ public:
         R"(
           If set to an absolute path to a `netrc` file, Nix will use the HTTP
           authentication credentials in this file when trying to download from
-          a remote host through HTTP or HTTPS. Defaults to
-          `$NIX_CONF_DIR/netrc`.
+          a remote host through HTTP or HTTPS.
 
           The `netrc` file consists of a list of accounts in the following
           format:
@@ -896,7 +895,7 @@ public:
           > This must be an absolute path, and `~` is not resolved. For
           > example, `~/.netrc` won't resolve to your home directory's
           > `.netrc`.
-        )"};
+        )", {}, "`$NIX_CONF_DIR/netrc`"};
 
     Setting<Path> caFile{
         this, getDefaultSSLCertFile(), "ssl-cert-file",
@@ -1081,7 +1080,7 @@ public:
           setting private access tokens when fetching a private repository.
         )",
         {}, // aliases
-        true, // document default
+        std::nullopt, // default text
         Xp::ConfigurableImpureEnv
     };
 };
diff --git a/src/libutil/abstract-setting-to-json.hh b/src/libutil/abstract-setting-to-json.hh
index d506dfb743f..b70a724f134 100644
--- a/src/libutil/abstract-setting-to-json.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/abstract-setting-to-json.hh
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ std::map<std::string, nlohmann::json> BaseSetting<T>::toJSONObject()
     auto obj = AbstractSetting::toJSONObject();
     obj.emplace("value", value);
     obj.emplace("defaultValue", defaultValue);
-    obj.emplace("documentDefault", documentDefault);
+    obj.emplace("defaultText", defaultText);
     return obj;
 }
 }
diff --git a/src/libutil/config.cc b/src/libutil/config.cc
index 8e06273ee8c..28deb5a8cea 100644
--- a/src/libutil/config.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/config.cc
@@ -407,8 +407,9 @@ PathSetting::PathSetting(Config * options,
     const Path & def,
     const std::string & name,
     const std::string & description,
-    const std::set<std::string> & aliases)
-    : BaseSetting<Path>(def, true, name, description, aliases)
+    const std::set<std::string> & aliases,
+    const std::optional<std::string> defaultText)
+    : BaseSetting<Path>(def, name, description, aliases, defaultText)
 {
     options->addSetting(this);
 }
@@ -423,8 +424,9 @@ OptionalPathSetting::OptionalPathSetting(Config * options,
     const std::optional<Path> & def,
     const std::string & name,
     const std::string & description,
-    const std::set<std::string> & aliases)
-    : BaseSetting<std::optional<Path>>(def, true, name, description, aliases)
+    const std::set<std::string> & aliases,
+    const std::optional<std::string> defaultText)
+    : BaseSetting<std::optional<Path>>(def, name, description, aliases, defaultText)
 {
     options->addSetting(this);
 }
diff --git a/src/libutil/config.hh b/src/libutil/config.hh
index 38c3ce0c497..55d46f71732 100644
--- a/src/libutil/config.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/config.hh
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ protected:
 
     T value;
     const T defaultValue;
-    const bool documentDefault;
+    const std::optional<std::string> defaultText;
 
     /**
      * Parse the string into a `T`.
@@ -252,15 +252,15 @@ protected:
 public:
 
     BaseSetting(const T & def,
-        const bool documentDefault,
         const std::string & name,
         const std::string & description,
         const std::set<std::string> & aliases = {},
+        const std::optional<std::string> defaultText = std::nullopt,
         std::optional<ExperimentalFeature> experimentalFeature = std::nullopt)
         : AbstractSetting(name, description, aliases, experimentalFeature)
         , value(def)
         , defaultValue(def)
-        , documentDefault(documentDefault)
+        , defaultText(defaultText)
     { }
 
     operator const T &() const { return value; }
@@ -327,9 +327,9 @@ public:
         const std::string & name,
         const std::string & description,
         const std::set<std::string> & aliases = {},
-        const bool documentDefault = true,
+        const std::optional<std::string> defaultText = std::nullopt,
         std::optional<ExperimentalFeature> experimentalFeature = std::nullopt)
-        : BaseSetting<T>(def, documentDefault, name, description, aliases, experimentalFeature)
+        : BaseSetting<T>(def, name, description, aliases, defaultText, experimentalFeature)
     {
         options->addSetting(this);
     }
@@ -352,7 +352,8 @@ public:
         const Path & def,
         const std::string & name,
         const std::string & description,
-        const std::set<std::string> & aliases = {});
+        const std::set<std::string> & aliases = {},
+        const std::optional<std::string> defaultText = std::nullopt);
 
     Path parse(const std::string & str) const override;
 
@@ -374,7 +375,8 @@ public:
         const std::optional<Path> & def,
         const std::string & name,
         const std::string & description,
-        const std::set<std::string> & aliases = {});
+        const std::set<std::string> & aliases = {},
+        const std::optional<std::string> defaultText = std::nullopt);
 
     std::optional<Path> parse(const std::string & str) const override;
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/tests/config.cc b/src/libutil/tests/config.cc
index 886e70da50d..c6781ffe610 100644
--- a/src/libutil/tests/config.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/tests/config.cc
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ namespace nix {
               "aliases": [],
               "defaultValue": "",
               "description": "description\n",
-              "documentDefault": true,
+              "defaultText": null,
               "value": "value",
               "experimentalFeature": null
             }
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ namespace nix {
             "name-of-the-setting",
             "description",
             {},
-            true,
+            "default-text",
             Xp::Flakes,
         };
         setting.assign("value");
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ namespace nix {
               "aliases": [],
               "defaultValue": "",
               "description": "description\n",
-              "documentDefault": true,
+              "defaultText": "default-text",
               "value": "value",
               "experimentalFeature": "flakes"
             }