diff --git a/ipykernel/kernelbase.py b/ipykernel/kernelbase.py
index 073ce01d1..f6017bdb2 100644
--- a/ipykernel/kernelbase.py
+++ b/ipykernel/kernelbase.py
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
 from traitlets.traitlets import (
     Any,
     Bool,
+    CaselessStrEnum,
     Dict,
     Float,
     Instance,
@@ -203,6 +204,24 @@ def _default_ident(self):
         """,
     ).tag(config=True)
 
+    advertise_debugger = CaselessStrEnum(
+        ["auto", "true", "false"],
+        default_value="auto",
+        help="""Whether to advertise "debugger" in the kernel_info_reply's
+        supported_features.
+
+        "auto" (the default) imports the debugger module to find out whether
+        debugpy is actually usable. That import is not cheap, and every
+        frontend sends a kernel_info_request at startup, so a deployment that
+        already knows the answer can set this to "true" or "false" to answer
+        kernel_info without touching debugpy at all.
+
+        Note that this only controls what is advertised. Setting it to "true"
+        where debugpy is unavailable does not make debugging work: debug
+        requests will still fail.
+        """,
+    ).tag(config=True)
+
     # track associations with current request
     # Private interface
 
@@ -1001,13 +1020,26 @@ async def connect_request(self, stream, ident, parent):
         self.log.debug("%s", msg)
 
     @property
-    def kernel_info(self):
+    def _debugger_advertised(self) -> bool:
+        """Whether to list "debugger" in kernel_info's supported_features.
+
+        Only the "auto" setting has to import the debugger module (and so
+        debugpy) to answer; see the ``advertise_debugger`` trait.
+        """
+        if self.advertise_debugger == "true":
+            return True
+        if self.advertise_debugger == "false":
+            return False
         from .debugger import _is_debugpy_available
 
+        return _is_debugpy_available
+
+    @property
+    def kernel_info(self):
         supported_features: list[str] = []
         if self._supports_kernel_subshells:
             supported_features.append("kernel subshells")
-        if _is_debugpy_available:
+        if self._debugger_advertised:
             supported_features.append("debugger")
 
         return {
diff --git a/tests/test_kernel_direct.py b/tests/test_kernel_direct.py
index 146ae3ead..78bc29568 100644
--- a/tests/test_kernel_direct.py
+++ b/tests/test_kernel_direct.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 import os
 import signal
+import sys
 import warnings
 
 import pytest
@@ -187,3 +188,25 @@ async def test_send_interrupt_children(kernel):
 # async def test_direct_usage_request(kernel):
 #     reply = await kernel.test_control_message("usage_request", {})
 #     assert reply['header']['msg_type'] == 'usage_reply'
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    ("setting", "advertised"),
+    [("true", True), ("false", False)],
+)
+def test_advertise_debugger_explicit(kernel, monkeypatch, setting, advertised):
+    """ "true"/"false" answer kernel_info without importing the debugger."""
+    # Poisoning the entry makes any `from .debugger import ...` raise.
+    monkeypatch.setitem(sys.modules, "ipykernel.debugger", None)
+    kernel.advertise_debugger = setting
+
+    assert ("debugger" in kernel.kernel_info["supported_features"]) is advertised
+
+
+def test_advertise_debugger_auto(kernel):
+    """ "auto" (the default) reports what the debugger module says."""
+    from ipykernel.debugger import _is_debugpy_available
+
+    assert kernel.advertise_debugger == "auto"
+    features = kernel.kernel_info["supported_features"]
+    assert ("debugger" in features) is _is_debugpy_available