diff --git a/apps/x/apps/main/src/main.ts b/apps/x/apps/main/src/main.ts
index c3618000..b7d0a491 100644
--- a/apps/x/apps/main/src/main.ts
+++ b/apps/x/apps/main/src/main.ts
@@ -112,7 +112,9 @@ function initializeExecutionEnvironment(): void {
     ).trim();
 
     const env = JSON.parse(stdout) as Record<string, string>;
-    process.env = { ...env, ...process.env };
+    // Let the user's shell environment win for overlapping keys like PATH.
+    // Finder/launched GUI apps on macOS often start with a stripped PATH.
+    process.env = { ...process.env, ...env };
   } catch (error) {
     console.error('Failed to load shell environment', error);
   }
diff --git a/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/assistant/runtime-context.ts b/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/assistant/runtime-context.ts
index f1011c2c..a9baffc2 100644
--- a/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/assistant/runtime-context.ts
+++ b/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/assistant/runtime-context.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,15 @@ export interface RuntimeContext {
 }
 
 export function getExecutionShell(platform: NodeJS.Platform = process.platform): string {
-  return platform === 'win32' ? (process.env.ComSpec || 'cmd.exe') : '/bin/sh';
+  if (platform === 'win32') {
+    return process.env.ComSpec || 'cmd.exe';
+  }
+
+  if (process.env.SHELL) {
+    return process.env.SHELL;
+  }
+
+  return platform === 'darwin' ? '/bin/zsh' : '/bin/sh';
 }
 
 export function getRuntimeContext(platform: NodeJS.Platform = process.platform): RuntimeContext {
diff --git a/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/lib/command-executor.ts b/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/lib/command-executor.ts
index 611bde45..11b15d90 100644
--- a/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/lib/command-executor.ts
+++ b/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/lib/command-executor.ts
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ const execPromise = promisify(exec);
 const COMMAND_SPLIT_REGEX = /(?:\|\||&&|;|\||\n|`|\$\(|\(|\))/;
 const ENV_ASSIGNMENT_REGEX = /^[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*=.*/;
 const WRAPPER_COMMANDS = new Set(['sudo', 'env', 'time', 'command']);
-const EXECUTION_SHELL = getExecutionShell();
 
 function sanitizeToken(token: string): string {
   return token.trim().replace(/^['"()]+|['"()]+$/g, '');
@@ -84,11 +83,12 @@ export async function executeCommand(
   }
 ): Promise<CommandResult> {
   try {
+    const shell = getExecutionShell();
     const { stdout, stderr } = await execPromise(command, {
       cwd: options?.cwd,
       timeout: options?.timeout,
       maxBuffer: options?.maxBuffer || 1024 * 1024, // default 1MB
-      shell: EXECUTION_SHELL,
+      shell,
     });
 
     return {
@@ -161,8 +161,9 @@ export function executeCommandAbortable(
     };
   }
 
+  const shell = getExecutionShell();
   const proc = spawn(command, [], {
-    shell: EXECUTION_SHELL,
+    shell,
     cwd: options?.cwd,
     detached: process.platform !== 'win32', // Create process group on Unix
     stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'pipe'],
@@ -272,11 +273,12 @@ export function executeCommandSync(
   }
 ): CommandResult {
   try {
+    const shell = getExecutionShell();
     const stdout = execSync(command, {
       cwd: options?.cwd,
       timeout: options?.timeout,
       encoding: 'utf-8',
-      shell: EXECUTION_SHELL,
+      shell,
     });
 
     return {