diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/network-filesystems/kubo.nix b/nixos/modules/services/network-filesystems/kubo.nix
index 2537bb1b8d80..a5c370b5be89 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/network-filesystems/kubo.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/network-filesystems/kubo.nix
@@ -172,8 +172,8 @@ in
 
       emptyRepo = mkOption {
         type = types.bool;
-        default = false;
-        description = lib.mdDoc "If set to true, the repo won't be initialized with help files";
+        default = true;
+        description = lib.mdDoc "If set to false, the repo will be initialized with help files";
       };
 
       settings = mkOption {
@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@ in
 
       preStart = ''
         if [[ ! -f "$IPFS_PATH/config" ]]; then
-          ipfs init ${optionalString cfg.emptyRepo "-e"}
+          ipfs init --empty-repo=${lib.boolToString cfg.emptyRepo}
         else
           # After an unclean shutdown this file may exist which will cause the config command to attempt to talk to the daemon. This will hang forever if systemd is holding our sockets open.
           rm -vf "$IPFS_PATH/api"
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/kubo/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/kubo/default.nix
index e4b86636322f..2c270199f127 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/networking/kubo/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/kubo/default.nix
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 buildGoModule rec {
   pname = "kubo";
-  version = "0.19.2"; # When updating, also check if the repo version changed and adjust repoVersion below
+  version = "0.20.0"; # When updating, also check if the repo version changed and adjust repoVersion below
   rev = "v${version}";
 
   passthru.repoVersion = "13"; # Also update kubo-migrator when changing the repo version
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ buildGoModule rec {
   # Kubo makes changes to it's source tarball that don't match the git source.
   src = fetchurl {
     url = "https://github.com/ipfs/kubo/releases/download/${rev}/kubo-source.tar.gz";
-    hash = "sha256-HPhlKAavINaN0SJHWmeJRx43jfeHeYDZb3/dZ55kMLI=";
+    hash = "sha256-3Oj/x3EkceNO8/Ik7+U43wi1aL0lYJi1FA0AjtdJRDI=";
   };
 
   # tarball contains multiple files/directories