diff --git a/chrome/content/zotero/preferences/preferences_advanced.xhtml b/chrome/content/zotero/preferences/preferences_advanced.xhtml
index 897aeee171..d13b7a87e4 100644
--- a/chrome/content/zotero/preferences/preferences_advanced.xhtml
+++ b/chrome/content/zotero/preferences/preferences_advanced.xhtml
@@ -35,6 +35,8 @@
 			</html:div>
 			
 			<checkbox label="&zotero.preferences.reportTranslationFailure;" preference="extensions.zotero.reportTranslationFailure" native="true"/>
+			
+			<checkbox data-l10n-id="preferences-advanced-enable-local-api" preference="extensions.zotero.httpServer.localAPI.enabled" native="true"/>
 		</groupbox>
 
 		<groupbox>
diff --git a/chrome/content/zotero/xpcom/localAPI/server_localAPI.js b/chrome/content/zotero/xpcom/localAPI/server_localAPI.js
index f9f5a09e13..2317f25d26 100644
--- a/chrome/content/zotero/xpcom/localAPI/server_localAPI.js
+++ b/chrome/content/zotero/xpcom/localAPI/server_localAPI.js
@@ -87,6 +87,10 @@ const exportFormats = new Map([
  */
 class LocalAPIEndpoint {
 	async init(requestData) {
+		if (!Zotero.Prefs.get('httpServer.localAPI.enabled')) {
+			return this.makeResponse(403, 'text/plain', 'Local API is not enabled');
+		}
+		
 		let apiVersion = parseInt(
 			requestData.headers['Zotero-API-Version']
 				|| requestData.searchParams.get('v')
diff --git a/chrome/locale/en-US/zotero/preferences.ftl b/chrome/locale/en-US/zotero/preferences.ftl
index 62ed26e900..7c42d0ebe6 100644
--- a/chrome/locale/en-US/zotero/preferences.ftl
+++ b/chrome/locale/en-US/zotero/preferences.ftl
@@ -56,6 +56,8 @@ preferences-styleManager-add-button =
     .tooltiptext = Add a style from a file
     .label = { $label }
 
+preferences-advanced-enable-local-api =
+    .label = Allow other applications on this computer to communicate with { -app-name }
 preferences-advanced-language-and-region-title = Language and Region
 preferences-advanced-enable-bidi-ui =
     .label = Enable bidirectional text editing utilities
diff --git a/defaults/preferences/zotero.js b/defaults/preferences/zotero.js
index fda53113bc..4855dfb51d 100644
--- a/defaults/preferences/zotero.js
+++ b/defaults/preferences/zotero.js
@@ -144,6 +144,7 @@ pref("extensions.zotero.integration.dontPromptMendeleyImport", false);
 // Connector settings
 pref("extensions.zotero.httpServer.enabled", true);
 pref("extensions.zotero.httpServer.port", 23119);	// ascii "ZO"
+pref("extensions.zotero.httpServer.localAPI.enabled", false);
 
 // Zeroconf
 pref("extensions.zotero.zeroconf.server.enabled", false);
diff --git a/test/runtests.sh b/test/runtests.sh
index d83914a3ba..41ec881483 100755
--- a/test/runtests.sh
+++ b/test/runtests.sh
@@ -137,6 +137,7 @@ user_pref("extensions.zotero.firstRunGuidance", false);
 user_pref("extensions.zotero.firstRun2", false);
 user_pref("extensions.zotero.reportTranslationFailure", false);
 user_pref("extensions.zotero.httpServer.enabled", true);
+user_pref("extensions.zotero.httpServer.localAPI.enabled", true);
 user_pref("extensions.zotero.backup.numBackups", 0);
 user_pref("extensions.zotero.sync.autoSync", false);
 user_pref("extensions.zoteroMacWordIntegration.installed", true);