diff --git a/.changeset/breezy-buttons-hope.md b/.changeset/breezy-buttons-hope.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7e3a39b74
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/breezy-buttons-hope.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@segment/analytics-node": patch
+---
+
+The writeKey no longer needs to be defined when setting `disabled` is `true`.
diff --git a/packages/node/src/app/settings.ts b/packages/node/src/app/settings.ts
index 0f2ee02f6..5b01e4bf3 100644
--- a/packages/node/src/app/settings.ts
+++ b/packages/node/src/app/settings.ts
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ export interface AnalyticsSettings {
 }
 
 export const validateSettings = (settings: AnalyticsSettings) => {
-  if (!settings.writeKey) {
+  if (!settings.writeKey && !settings.disable) {
     throw new ValidationError('writeKey', 'writeKey is missing.')
   }
 }