diff --git a/src/scmrepo/git/backend/pygit2/__init__.py b/src/scmrepo/git/backend/pygit2/__init__.py
index f50aeea3..5e39330c 100644
--- a/src/scmrepo/git/backend/pygit2/__init__.py
+++ b/src/scmrepo/git/backend/pygit2/__init__.py
@@ -118,7 +118,8 @@ def _key(self, section: tuple[str, ...], name: str) -> str:
         return ".".join((*section, name))
 
     def get(self, section: tuple[str, ...], name: str) -> str:
-        return self._config[self._key(section, name)]
+        v = self._config[self._key(section, name)]
+        return "true" if v is None else v
 
     def get_bool(self, section: tuple[str, ...], name: str) -> bool:
         from pygit2 import GitError