diff --git a/src/commands.ts b/src/commands.ts
index 57b522b..e84464d 100644
--- a/src/commands.ts
+++ b/src/commands.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import { getStatsFromTree, processTraceFiles, showTree, treeIdNodes } from './tr
 import { getTracePanel, prepareWebView } from './webview'
 import { getCurrentConfig } from './configuration'
 import { log } from './logger'
+import { createTraceCommand } from './shell'
 import type { CommandId } from './constants'
 import { addTraceFile, getWorkspacePath, openTerminal, openTraceDirectoryExternal, setLastMessageTrigger } from './storage'
 import { addTraceDiagnostics, clearTaceDiagnostics } from './traceDiagnostics'
@@ -128,9 +129,7 @@ async function runTrace(args?: unknown[]) {
       return
     }
 
-    const quotedTraceDir = `'${traceDir}'`
-    // eslint-disable-next-line no-template-curly-in-string
-    const fullCmd = `(cd '${newDirName ?? workspacePath}'; ${traceCmd.replace('${traceDir}', quotedTraceDir)})`
+    const fullCmd = createTraceCommand(traceCmd, traceDir)
 
     log(fullCmd)
 
@@ -147,8 +146,9 @@ async function runTrace(args?: unknown[]) {
 
     setStatusBarState('traceError', false)
 
-    log(`shell: ${process.env.SHELL}`)
-    const cmdProcess = spawn(fullCmd, [], { cwd: newProjectPath, shell: process.env.SHELL })
+    log(`cwd: ${newProjectPath}`)
+    log(`shell: ${process.env.SHELL ?? 'default'}`)
+    const cmdProcess = spawn(fullCmd, [], { cwd: newProjectPath, shell: process.env.SHELL || true })
 
     let err = ''
     cmdProcess.stderr.on('data', data => err += data.toString())
diff --git a/src/shell.ts b/src/shell.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..69fdea0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/shell.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import * as process from 'node:process'
+
+export function quoteShellArg(value: string, platform: NodeJS.Platform = process.platform) {
+  if (platform === 'win32') {
+    return `"${value.replace(/"/g, '\\"')}"`
+  }
+
+  return `'${value.replace(/'/g, `'\\''`)}'`
+}
+
+export function createTraceCommand(traceCmd: string, traceDir: string, platform: NodeJS.Platform = process.platform) {
+  const traceDirPlaceholder = '$' + '{traceDir}'
+
+  return traceCmd.replace(traceDirPlaceholder, quoteShellArg(traceDir, platform))
+}
diff --git a/test/index.test.ts b/test/index.test.ts
index 401553c..e1dad76 100644
--- a/test/index.test.ts
+++ b/test/index.test.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,27 @@
 import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+import { createTraceCommand, quoteShellArg } from '../src/shell'
 
 describe('should', () => {
   it('exported', () => {
     expect(1).toEqual(1)
   })
 })
+
+describe('shell command helpers', () => {
+  it('quotes trace directories for posix shells', () => {
+    expect(quoteShellArg('/tmp/a b/trace', 'darwin')).toBe('\'/tmp/a b/trace\'')
+    expect(quoteShellArg('/tmp/it\'s/trace', 'linux')).toBe('\'/tmp/it\'\\\'\'s/trace\'')
+  })
+
+  it('quotes trace directories for windows shells', () => {
+    expect(quoteShellArg('c:\\Users\\Name With Space\\trace', 'win32')).toBe('"c:\\Users\\Name With Space\\trace"')
+  })
+
+  it('builds the trace command without embedding a cd command', () => {
+    const traceDirPlaceholder = '$' + '{traceDir}'
+    const command = createTraceCommand(`npx tsc --noEmit --generateTrace ${traceDirPlaceholder}`, 'p:\\_godot\\trace', 'win32')
+
+    expect(command).toBe('npx tsc --noEmit --generateTrace "p:\\_godot\\trace"')
+    expect(command).not.toContain('cd ')
+  })
+})