diff --git a/cookbook/direnv.md b/cookbook/direnv.md
index 9d38898d4e3..763e243fa28 100644
--- a/cookbook/direnv.md
+++ b/cookbook/direnv.md
@@ -17,12 +17,21 @@ To make direnv work with nushell the way it does with other shells, we can use t
 $env.config = {
   hooks: {
     pre_prompt: [{ ||
-      let direnv = (direnv export json | from json)
-
-      if not ($direnv | is-empty) {
-        let direnv = $direnv | upsert PATH {|it| $it.PATH | split row ":" }
-        $direnv | load-env
-      }
+        let direnv = (direnv export json | from json | default {})
+        if ($direnv | is-empty) {
+            return
+        }
+        $direnv
+        | items {|key, value|
+           {
+              key: $key
+              value: (if $key in $env.ENV_CONVERSIONS {
+                do ($env.ENV_CONVERSIONS | get $key | get from_string) $value
+              } else {
+                  $value
+              })
+            }
+        } | transpose -ird | load-env
     }]
   }
 }