diff --git a/src/fennel-ls/state.fnl b/src/fennel-ls/state.fnl
index c944af0..e4b158b 100644
--- a/src/fennel-ls/state.fnl
+++ b/src/fennel-ls/state.fnl
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ However, fennel-ls can fall back to positionEncoding=utf-16 (with a performance
   (set self.modules {})
   (set self.root-uri params.rootUri)
   (set self.position-encoding (choose-position-encoding params))
-  (set self.configuration (make-configuration)))
+  (set self.configuration (make-configuration (?. params :initializationOptions :fennel-ls))))
 
 (λ write-configuration [self ?configuration]
   (set self.configuration (make-configuration ?configuration)))
diff --git a/test/settings-test.fnl b/test/settings-test.fnl
index fe28944..5f84230 100644
--- a/test/settings-test.fnl
+++ b/test/settings-test.fnl
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 (local {: view} (require :fennel))
 
 (local {: ROOT-URI
+        : ROOT-PATH
         : create-client} (require :test.client))
 
 (describe "settings"
@@ -44,4 +45,17 @@
       (is-matching responses
         [{:method :textDocument/publishDiagnostics
           :params {:diagnostics [nil]}}]
-        "bad"))))
+        "bad")))
+
+  (it "can be configured with initialization options"
+      (let [initializationOptions {:fennel-ls {:checks {:unused-definition false}}}
+            client (create-client {:params {: initializationOptions
+                                            :rootPath ROOT-PATH
+                                            :rootUri ROOT-URI
+                                            :workspaceFolders [{:name ROOT-PATH
+                                                                :uri ROOT-URI}]}})
+            responses (client:open-file! (.. ROOT-URI :/test.fnl) "(local x 10)")]
+        (is-matching responses
+          [{:method :textDocument/publishDiagnostics
+            :params {:diagnostics [nil]}}]
+          "settings should apply when set through initializationOptions"))))