diff --git a/shell-integration/ssh/bootstrap.py b/shell-integration/ssh/bootstrap.py
index 2724aba92..0ed457741 100644
--- a/shell-integration/ssh/bootstrap.py
+++ b/shell-integration/ssh/bootstrap.py
@@ -89,19 +89,22 @@ def move(src, base_dest):
             os.rename(x.path, dest)
 
 
-def compile_terminfo():
+def compile_terminfo(base):
     if not shutil.which('tic'):
         return
     tname = '.terminfo'
     if os.path.exists('/usr/share/misc/terminfo.cdb'):
         tname += '.cdb'
-    cp = subprocess.run(
-        ['tic', '-x', '-o', os.path.join(HOME, tname), os.path.join(HOME, '.terminfo', 'kitty.terminfo')],
-        stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT
-    )
-    if cp.returncode != 0:
-        sys.stderr.buffer.write(cp.stdout)
-        raise SystemExit('Failed to compile the terminfo database')
+    os.environ['TERMINFO'] = os.path.join(HOME, tname)
+    tic = shutil.which('tic')
+    if tic:
+        cp = subprocess.run(
+            [tic, '-x', '-o', os.path.join(base, tname), os.path.join(base, '.terminfo', 'kitty.terminfo')],
+            stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT
+        )
+        if cp.returncode != 0:
+            sys.stderr.buffer.write(cp.stdout)
+            raise SystemExit('Failed to compile the terminfo database')
 
 
 def get_data():
@@ -138,6 +141,7 @@ def get_data():
             apply_env_vars(env_vars)
             data_dir = os.path.join(HOME, os.environ.pop('KITTY_SSH_KITTEN_DATA_DIR'))
             shell_integration_dir = os.path.join(data_dir, 'shell-integration')
+            compile_terminfo(tdir + '/home')
             move(tdir + '/home', HOME)
             if os.path.exists(tdir + '/root'):
                 move(tdir + '/root', '/')
@@ -213,7 +217,6 @@ def main():
         finally:
             cleanup()
     ksi = frozenset(filter(None, os.environ.pop('KITTY_SHELL_INTEGRATION', '').split()))
-    compile_terminfo()
     exec_cmd = b'EXEC_CMD'
     if exec_cmd:
         cmd = base64.standard_b64decode(exec_cmd).decode('utf-8')
diff --git a/shell-integration/ssh/bootstrap.sh b/shell-integration/ssh/bootstrap.sh
index 8e788acb2..9f58f859f 100644
--- a/shell-integration/ssh/bootstrap.sh
+++ b/shell-integration/ssh/bootstrap.sh
@@ -110,6 +110,24 @@ mv_files_and_dirs() {
     cd "$cwd";
 }
 
+compile_terminfo() {
+    # export TERMINFO
+    tname=".terminfo"
+    if [ -e "/usr/share/misc/terminfo.cdb" ]; then
+        # NetBSD requires this see https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/issues/4622
+        tname=".terminfo.cdb"
+    fi
+    export TERMINFO="$HOME/$tname"
+
+    # compile terminfo for this system
+    if [ -x "$(command -v tic)" ]; then
+        tic_out=$(command tic -x -o "$1/$tname" "$1/.terminfo/kitty.terminfo" 2>&1)
+        rc=$?
+        if [ "$rc" != "0" ]; then die "$tic_out"; fi
+    fi
+}
+
+
 untar_and_read_env() {
     # extract the tar file atomically, in the sense that any file from the
     # tarfile is only put into place after it has been fully written to disk
@@ -120,6 +138,7 @@ untar_and_read_env() {
     data_file="$tdir/data.sh";
     [ -f "$data_file" ] && . "$data_file";
     data_dir="$HOME/$KITTY_SSH_KITTEN_DATA_DIR"
+    compile_terminfo "$tdir/home"
     mv_files_and_dirs "$tdir/home" "$HOME"
     [ -e "$tdir/root" ] && mv_files_and_dirs "$tdir/root" ""
     command rm -rf "$tdir";
@@ -160,20 +179,6 @@ if [ "$tty_ok" = "y" ]; then
     shell_integration_dir="$data_dir/shell-integration"
     [ -f "$HOME/.terminfo/kitty.terminfo" ] || die "Incomplete extraction of ssh data";
 
-    # export TERMINFO
-    tname=".terminfo"
-    if [ -e "/usr/share/misc/terminfo.cdb" ]; then
-        # NetBSD requires this see https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/issues/4622
-        tname=".terminfo.cdb"
-    fi
-    export TERMINFO="$HOME/$tname"
-
-    # compile terminfo for this system
-    if [ -x "$(command -v tic)" ]; then
-        tic_out=$(command tic -x -o "$HOME/$tname" "$HOME/.terminfo/kitty.terminfo" 2>&1)
-        rc=$?
-        if [ "$rc" != "0" ]; then die "$tic_out"; fi
-    fi
 fi