diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index b3261c38..680b47fe 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,12 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
 ## [Unreleased]
+### Added
+- "Soft" scoping rules (see e.g. https://github.com/JuliaLang/SoftGlobalScope.jl) are now
+  available for code execution (markdown and notebook output). This is enabled by default
+  for Jupyter notebook output (to mimic how the IJulia kernel works), and disabled
+  otherwise. Soft scope rules can be enabled/disabled with the `softscope :: Bool`
+  configuration variable. ([#227][github-227], [#230][github-230])
 ### Changed
 - The minimum Julia version requirement for Literate >= 2.16.0 is now 1.6.0 (from 1.0.0).
   ([#230][github-230])
@@ -269,6 +275,7 @@ https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-literate-jl/10651 for release announcement
 [github-221]: https://github.com/fredrikekre/Literate.jl/pull/221
 [github-222]: https://github.com/fredrikekre/Literate.jl/issues/222
 [github-223]: https://github.com/fredrikekre/Literate.jl/pull/223
+[github-227]: https://github.com/fredrikekre/Literate.jl/issues/227
 [github-228]: https://github.com/fredrikekre/Literate.jl/issues/228
 [github-229]: https://github.com/fredrikekre/Literate.jl/pull/229
 [github-230]: https://github.com/fredrikekre/Literate.jl/pull/230
diff --git a/src/Literate.jl b/src/Literate.jl
index f12440cb..071fa172 100644
--- a/src/Literate.jl
+++ b/src/Literate.jl
@@ -312,6 +312,7 @@ function create_configuration(inputfile; user_config, user_kwargs, type=nothing)
     cfg["flavor"] = type === (:md) ? DocumenterFlavor() : DefaultFlavor()
     cfg["credit"] = true
     cfg["mdstrings"] = false
+    cfg["softscope"] = type === (:nb) ? true : false # on for Jupyter notebooks
     cfg["keep_comments"] = false
     cfg["execute"] = type === :md ? false : true
     cfg["codefence"] = get(user_config, "flavor", cfg["flavor"]) isa DocumenterFlavor &&
@@ -408,6 +409,8 @@ Available options:
 - `devurl` (default: `"dev"`): URL for "in-development" docs, see [Documenter docs]
   (https://juliadocs.github.io/Documenter.jl/). Unused if `repo_root_url`/
   `nbviewer_root_url`/`binder_root_url` are set.
+- `softscope` (default: `true` for Jupyter notebooks, `false` otherwise): enable/disable
+  "soft" scoping rules when executing, see e.g. https://github.com/JuliaLang/SoftGlobalScope.jl.
 - `repo_root_url`: URL to the root of the repository. Determined automatically on Travis CI,
   GitHub Actions and GitLab CI. Used for `@__REPO_ROOT_URL__`.
 - `nbviewer_root_url`: URL to the root of the repository as seen on nbviewer. Determined
@@ -580,6 +583,7 @@ function markdown(inputfile, outputdir=pwd(); config::AbstractDict=Dict(), kwarg
                                       flavor=config["flavor"],
                                       image_formats=config["image_formats"],
                                       file_prefix="$(config["name"])-$(chunknum)",
+                                      softscope=config["softscope"],
                     )
                 end
             end
@@ -597,9 +601,10 @@ end
 
 function execute_markdown!(io::IO, sb::Module, block::String, outputdir;
                            inputfile::String, fake_source::String,
-                           flavor::AbstractFlavor, image_formats::Vector, file_prefix::String)
+                           flavor::AbstractFlavor, image_formats::Vector, file_prefix::String,
+                           softscope::Bool)
     # TODO: Deal with explicit display(...) calls
-    r, str, _ = execute_block(sb, block; inputfile=inputfile, fake_source=fake_source)
+    r, str, _ = execute_block(sb, block; inputfile=inputfile, fake_source=fake_source, softscope=softscope)
     # issue #101: consecutive codefenced blocks need newline
     # issue #144: quadruple backticks allow for triple backticks in the output
     plain_fence = "\n````\n" =>  "\n````"
@@ -734,7 +739,8 @@ function jupyter_notebook(chunks, config)
         try
             cd(config["literate_outputdir"]) do
                 nb = execute_notebook(nb; inputfile=config["literate_inputfile"],
-                                          fake_source=config["literate_outputfile"])
+                                          fake_source=config["literate_outputfile"],
+                                          softscope=config["softscope"])
             end
         catch err
             @error "error when executing notebook based on input file: " *
@@ -745,7 +751,7 @@ function jupyter_notebook(chunks, config)
     return nb
 end
 
-function execute_notebook(nb; inputfile::String, fake_source::String)
+function execute_notebook(nb; inputfile::String, fake_source::String, softscope::Bool)
     sb = sandbox()
     execution_count = 0
     for cell in nb["cells"]
@@ -753,7 +759,7 @@ function execute_notebook(nb; inputfile::String, fake_source::String)
         execution_count += 1
         cell["execution_count"] = execution_count
         block = join(cell["source"])
-        r, str, display_dicts = execute_block(sb, block; inputfile=inputfile, fake_source=fake_source)
+        r, str, display_dicts = execute_block(sb, block; inputfile=inputfile, fake_source=fake_source, softscope=softscope)
 
         # str should go into stream
         if !isempty(str)
@@ -835,7 +841,7 @@ function Base.display(ld::LiterateDisplay, mime::MIME, x)
 end
 
 # Execute a code-block in a module and capture stdout/stderr and the result
-function execute_block(sb::Module, block::String; inputfile::String, fake_source::String)
+function execute_block(sb::Module, block::String; inputfile::String, fake_source::String, softscope::Bool)
     @debug """execute_block($sb, block)
     ```
     $(block)
@@ -851,7 +857,11 @@ function execute_block(sb::Module, block::String; inputfile::String, fake_source
     # `rethrow = Union{}` means that we try-catch all the exceptions thrown in the do-block
     # and return them via the return value (they get handled below).
     c = IOCapture.capture(rethrow = Union{}) do
-        include_string(sb, block, fake_source)
+        if softscope
+            include_string(REPL.softscope, sb, block, fake_source)
+        else
+            include_string(sb, block, fake_source)
+        end
     end
     popdisplay(disp) # IOCapture.capture has a try-catch so should always end up here
     if c.error
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index d56f3043..419838f7 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -905,6 +905,27 @@ end end
             Literate.markdown(inputfile, relpath(outdir); execute=true,
                               flavor=Literate.CommonMarkFlavor())
             @test read(joinpath(outdir, "inputfile-1.svg"), String) == "issue228"
+
+            # Softscope
+            write(
+                inputfile,
+                """
+                ret = 0
+                for k = 1:10
+                    ret += k
+                end
+                println("ret = ", ret)
+                """
+            )
+            Literate.markdown(inputfile, outdir; execute=true, softscope=true)
+            @test occursin("ret = 55", read(joinpath(outdir, "inputfile.md"), String))
+            ## Disabled softscope
+            try
+                Literate.markdown(inputfile, outdir; execute=true, softscope=false)
+                error("unreachable")
+            catch err
+                @test occursin(r"`?ret`? not defined", sprint(Base.showerror, err))
+            end
         end # cd(sandbox)
     end # mktemp
 end end
@@ -1319,8 +1340,29 @@ end end
             @test keys(cellout[1]["data"]) == Set(("text/latex",))
             @test cellout[1]["data"]["text/latex"] == "DF(4) as text/latex"
             @test !haskey(cellout[1], "execution_count")
-        end
-    end
+
+            # Softscope
+            write(
+                inputfile,
+                """
+                ret = 0
+                for k = 1:10
+                    ret += k
+                end
+                println("ret = ", ret)
+                """
+            )
+            Literate.notebook(inputfile, outdir)
+            @test occursin("ret = 55", read(joinpath(outdir, "inputfile.ipynb"), String))
+            ## Disabled softscope
+            try
+                Literate.notebook(inputfile, outdir; softscope=false)
+                error("unreachable")
+            catch err
+                @test occursin(r"`?ret`? not defined", sprint(Base.showerror, err))
+            end
+        end # cd(sandbox)
+    end # mktempdir
 end end
 
 @testset "Configuration" begin; Base.CoreLogging.with_logger(Base.CoreLogging.NullLogger()) do