diff --git a/docs/content/en/schemas/v2alpha3.json b/docs/content/en/schemas/v2alpha3.json
index 7d412e7998f..433ac93fa92 100755
--- a/docs/content/en/schemas/v2alpha3.json
+++ b/docs/content/en/schemas/v2alpha3.json
@@ -1606,7 +1606,7 @@
           "type": "array",
           "description": "path to Kustomization files.",
           "x-intellij-html-description": "path to Kustomization files.",
-          "default": "."
+          "default": "[\".\"]"
         }
       },
       "preferredOrder": [
diff --git a/pkg/skaffold/schema/latest/config.go b/pkg/skaffold/schema/latest/config.go
index 238f3791189..fba254604f1 100644
--- a/pkg/skaffold/schema/latest/config.go
+++ b/pkg/skaffold/schema/latest/config.go
@@ -450,7 +450,7 @@ type HelmDeployFlags struct {
 // KustomizeDeploy *beta* uses the `kustomize` CLI to "patch" a deployment for a target environment.
 type KustomizeDeploy struct {
 	// KustomizePaths is the path to Kustomization files.
-	// Defaults to `.`.
+	// Defaults to `["."]`.
 	KustomizePaths []string `yaml:"paths,omitempty"`
 
 	// Flags are additional flags passed to `kubectl`.