diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/generators/app_base.rb b/railties/lib/rails/generators/app_base.rb
index 2f18619e30291..064b109a6f22c 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails/generators/app_base.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/generators/app_base.rb
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ def self.add_shared_options_for(name)
         class_option :edge,               type: :boolean, default: false,
                                           desc: "Setup the #{name} with Gemfile pointing to Rails repository"
 
-        class_option :rc,                 type: :string, default: false,
+        class_option :rc,                 type: :string, default: nil,
                                           desc: "Path to file containing extra configuration options for rails command"
 
         class_option :no_rc,              type: :boolean, default: false,