diff --git a/.changeset/fifty-trainers-watch.md b/.changeset/fifty-trainers-watch.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5cef1ad2b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/fifty-trainers-watch.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+'@backstage/plugin-techdocs': patch
+---
+
+Make `emptyState` input optional on `entity-content:techdocs` extension so that
+the default empty state extension works correctly.
diff --git a/plugins/techdocs/api-report-alpha.md b/plugins/techdocs/api-report-alpha.md
index 19bdccc948..63e078dd43 100644
--- a/plugins/techdocs/api-report-alpha.md
+++ b/plugins/techdocs/api-report-alpha.md
@@ -229,7 +229,9 @@ const _default: FrontendPlugin<
           ConfigurableExtensionDataRef<
             React_2.JSX.Element,
             'core.reactElement',
-            {}
+            {
+              optional: true;
+            }
           >,
           {
             singleton: true;
diff --git a/plugins/techdocs/src/alpha.tsx b/plugins/techdocs/src/alpha.tsx
index 2299b56be9..e0e1c1761e 100644
--- a/plugins/techdocs/src/alpha.tsx
+++ b/plugins/techdocs/src/alpha.tsx
@@ -157,10 +157,13 @@ const techDocsReaderPage = PageBlueprint.make({
  */
 const techDocsEntityContent = EntityContentBlueprint.makeWithOverrides({
   inputs: {
-    emptyState: createExtensionInput([coreExtensionData.reactElement], {
-      singleton: true,
-      optional: true,
-    }),
+    emptyState: createExtensionInput(
+      [coreExtensionData.reactElement.optional()],
+      {
+        singleton: true,
+        optional: true,
+      },
+    ),
   },
   factory(originalFactory, context) {
     return originalFactory(