diff --git a/tools/cli/zsh.go b/tools/cli/zsh.go
index 18199b97a..7cf88ad52 100644
--- a/tools/cli/zsh.go
+++ b/tools/cli/zsh.go
@@ -89,7 +89,12 @@ func serialize(completions *Completions, f *markup.Context, screen_width int) ([
 	} else {
 		for _, mg := range completions.Groups {
 			cmd := strings.Builder{}
-			cmd.WriteString("compadd -U -J ")
+			escape_ourselves := mg.IsFiles // zsh quoting quotes a leading ~/ in filenames which is wrong
+			cmd.WriteString("compadd -U ")
+			if escape_ourselves {
+				cmd.WriteString("-Q ")
+			}
+			cmd.WriteString("-J ")
 			cmd.WriteString(utils.QuoteStringForSH(mg.Title))
 			cmd.WriteString(" -X ")
 			cmd.WriteString(utils.QuoteStringForSH("%B" + mg.Title + "%b"))
@@ -116,7 +121,11 @@ func serialize(completions *Completions, f *markup.Context, screen_width int) ([
 			cmd.WriteString(" --")
 			for _, m := range mg.Matches {
 				cmd.WriteString(" ")
-				cmd.WriteString(utils.QuoteStringForSH(m.Word))
+				w := m.Word
+				if escape_ourselves {
+					w = utils.EscapeSHMetaCharacters(m.Word)
+				}
+				cmd.WriteString(utils.QuoteStringForSH(w))
 			}
 			fmt.Fprintln(&output, cmd.String(), ";")
 		}
diff --git a/tools/utils/shell.go b/tools/utils/shell.go
index a415897cb..87d353789 100644
--- a/tools/utils/shell.go
+++ b/tools/utils/shell.go
@@ -24,3 +24,18 @@ func QuoteStringForFish(x string) string {
 	x = strings.ReplaceAll(x, "'", "\\'")
 	return "'" + x + "'"
 }
+
+// Escapes common shell meta characters
+func EscapeSHMetaCharacters(x string) string {
+	const metachars = "\\|&;<>()$'\" \n\t"
+	ans := strings.Builder{}
+	ans.Grow(len(x) + 32)
+	for _, ch := range x {
+		switch ch {
+		case '\\', '|', '&', ';', '<', '>', '(', ')', '$', '\'', '"', ' ', '\n', '\t':
+			ans.WriteRune('\\')
+		}
+		ans.WriteRune(ch)
+	}
+	return ans.String()
+}