diff --git a/kittens/ssh/main.py b/kittens/ssh/main.py
index 23d94c85b..31c01f201 100644
--- a/kittens/ssh/main.py
+++ b/kittens/ssh/main.py
@@ -391,16 +391,7 @@ def parse_ssh_args(args: List[str], extra_args: Tuple[str, ...] = ()) -> Tuple[L
     return ssh_args, server_args, passthrough, tuple(found_extra_args)
 
 
-def get_remote_command(
-    remote_args: List[str], hostname: str = 'localhost', cli_hostname: str = '', cli_uname: str = '',
-    interpreter: str = 'sh',
-    ssh_opts_dict: Dict[str, Dict[str, Any]] = {}
-) -> List[str]:
-    q = os.path.basename(interpreter).lower()
-    is_python = 'python' in q
-    sh_script = bootstrap_script(
-        script_type='py' if is_python else 'sh', remote_args=remote_args, ssh_opts_dict=ssh_opts_dict,
-        cli_hostname=cli_hostname, cli_uname=cli_uname)
+def wrap_bootstrap_script(sh_script: str, interpreter: str) -> List[str]:
     # sshd will execute the command we pass it by join all command line
     # arguments with a space and passing it as a single argument to the users
     # login shell with -c. If the user has a non POSIX login shell it might
@@ -409,6 +400,8 @@ def get_remote_command(
     # interpreter -c unwrap_script escaped_bootstrap_script
     # The unwrap_script is responsible for unescaping the bootstrap script and
     # executing it.
+    q = os.path.basename(interpreter).lower()
+    is_python = 'python' in q
     if is_python:
         es = standard_b64encode(sh_script.encode('utf-8')).decode('ascii')
         unwrap_script = '''"import base64, sys; eval(compile(base64.standard_b64decode(sys.argv[-1]), 'bootstrap.py', 'exec'))"'''
@@ -421,6 +414,19 @@ def get_remote_command(
     return [interpreter, '-c', unwrap_script, es]
 
 
+def get_remote_command(
+    remote_args: List[str], hostname: str = 'localhost', cli_hostname: str = '', cli_uname: str = '',
+    interpreter: str = 'sh',
+    ssh_opts_dict: Dict[str, Dict[str, Any]] = {}
+) -> List[str]:
+    q = os.path.basename(interpreter).lower()
+    is_python = 'python' in q
+    sh_script = bootstrap_script(
+        script_type='py' if is_python else 'sh', remote_args=remote_args, ssh_opts_dict=ssh_opts_dict,
+        cli_hostname=cli_hostname, cli_uname=cli_uname)
+    return wrap_bootstrap_script(sh_script, interpreter)
+
+
 def main(args: List[str]) -> NoReturn:
     args = args[1:]
     if args and args[0] == 'use-python':
diff --git a/kitty_tests/ssh.py b/kitty_tests/ssh.py
index 4130546d5..afefc1acb 100644
--- a/kitty_tests/ssh.py
+++ b/kitty_tests/ssh.py
@@ -4,13 +4,14 @@
 
 import glob
 import os
-import shlex
 import shutil
 import tempfile
 from functools import lru_cache
 
 from kittens.ssh.config import load_config, options_for_host
-from kittens.ssh.main import bootstrap_script, get_connection_data
+from kittens.ssh.main import (
+    bootstrap_script, get_connection_data, wrap_bootstrap_script
+)
 from kittens.ssh.options.utils import DELETE_ENV_VAR
 from kittens.transfer.utils import set_paths
 from kitty.constants import is_macos
@@ -217,7 +218,7 @@ copy --exclude */w.* d1
                         self.assertEqual(pty.screen.cursor.shape, 0)
                         self.assertNotIn(b'\x1b]133;', pty.received_bytes)
 
-    def check_bootstrap(self, sh, home_dir, login_shell='', SHELL_INTEGRATION_VALUE='enabled', test_script='', pre_data='', ssh_opts=None):
+    def check_bootstrap(self, sh, home_dir, login_shell='', SHELL_INTEGRATION_VALUE='enabled', test_script='', pre_data='', ssh_opts=None, launcher='sh'):
         ssh_opts = ssh_opts or {}
         if login_shell:
             ssh_opts['login_shell'] = login_shell
@@ -237,7 +238,8 @@ copy --exclude */w.* d1
         # prevent newuser-install from running
         open(os.path.join(home_dir, '.zshrc'), 'w').close()
         options = {'shell_integration': shell_integration(SHELL_INTEGRATION_VALUE or 'disabled')}
-        pty = self.create_pty(f'{sh} -c {shlex.quote(script)}', cwd=home_dir, env=env, options=options)
+        cmd = wrap_bootstrap_script(script, sh)
+        pty = self.create_pty([launcher, '-c', ' '.join(cmd)], cwd=home_dir, env=env, options=options)
         if pre_data:
             pty.write_buf = pre_data.encode('utf-8')
         del script