diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 2cfc7a20b..8b5a9c69c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ jobs:
         shellcheck test/ejabberd_SUITE_data/gencerts.sh
         shellcheck tools/captcha.sh
         shellcheck ejabberd.init.template
-        shellcheck ejabberdctl.template
+        shellcheck -x ejabberdctl.template
 
     - name: Get previous Erlang/OTP
       uses: ErlGang/setup-erlang@master
diff --git a/ejabberdctl.template b/ejabberdctl.template
index cd2cc3c3e..9bd76749c 100755
--- a/ejabberdctl.template
+++ b/ejabberdctl.template
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ done
 : "${EJABBERDCTL_CONFIG_PATH:="$ETC_DIR/ejabberdctl.cfg"}"
 # Allows passing extra Erlang command-line arguments in vm.args file
 : "${VMARGS:="$ETC_DIR/vm.args"}"
+# shellcheck source=ejabberdctl.cfg.example
 [ -f "$EJABBERDCTL_CONFIG_PATH" ] && . "$EJABBERDCTL_CONFIG_PATH"
 [ -n "$ERLANG_NODE_ARG" ] && ERLANG_NODE="$ERLANG_NODE_ARG"
 [ "$ERLANG_NODE" = "${ERLANG_NODE%.*}" ] && S="-s"