diff --git a/spec/text-editor-spec.coffee b/spec/text-editor-spec.coffee
index e1af7c46c..17ce81301 100644
--- a/spec/text-editor-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/text-editor-spec.coffee
@@ -5507,8 +5507,8 @@ describe "TextEditor", ->
       expect(editor.getScrollPastEnd()).toBe(false)
 
   describe "auto height", ->
-    it "returns undefined by default but can be customized", ->
-      expect(editor.getAutoHeight()).toBeUndefined()
+    it "returns true by default but can be customized", ->
+      expect(editor.getAutoHeight()).toBe(true)
       editor.update({autoHeight: false})
       expect(editor.getAutoHeight()).toBe(false)
       editor.update({autoHeight: true})
diff --git a/src/text-editor-component.coffee b/src/text-editor-component.coffee
index 08fdbb9a8..8355c7fa5 100644
--- a/src/text-editor-component.coffee
+++ b/src/text-editor-component.coffee
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ class TextEditorComponent
       cursorBlinkResumeDelay: @cursorBlinkResumeDelay
       stoppedScrollingDelay: 200
       lineTopIndex: lineTopIndex
-      autoHeight: @editor.getAutoHeight() ? true
+      autoHeight: @editor.getAutoHeight()
 
     @presenter.onDidUpdateState(@requestUpdate)
 
@@ -759,7 +759,7 @@ class TextEditorComponent
     # auto-height in certain circumstances. This is legacy behavior that we
     # would rather not implement, but we can't remove it without risking
     # breakage currently.
-    unless @editor.getAutoHeight()?
+    unless @editor.autoHeight?
       {position, top, bottom} = getComputedStyle(@hostElement)
       hasExplicitTopAndBottom = (position is 'absolute' and top isnt 'auto' and bottom isnt 'auto')
 
diff --git a/src/text-editor.coffee b/src/text-editor.coffee
index 89e5aaf49..42cfaa9b5 100644
--- a/src/text-editor.coffee
+++ b/src/text-editor.coffee
@@ -3542,7 +3542,7 @@ class TextEditor extends Model
     Grim.deprecate("This is now a view method. Call TextEditorElement::getHeight instead.")
     @height
 
-  getAutoHeight: -> @autoHeight
+  getAutoHeight: -> @autoHeight ? true
 
   setWidth: (width, reentrant=false) ->
     if reentrant