diff --git a/macos/Sources/App/macOS/AppDelegate.swift b/macos/Sources/App/macOS/AppDelegate.swift
index c5da42d6c..0db39a09e 100644
--- a/macos/Sources/App/macOS/AppDelegate.swift
+++ b/macos/Sources/App/macOS/AppDelegate.swift
@@ -476,7 +476,7 @@ class AppDelegate: NSObject,
             // profile/rc files for the shell, which is super important on macOS
             // due to things like Homebrew. Instead, we set the command to
             // `<filename>; exit` which is what Terminal and iTerm2 do.
-            config.initialInput = "\(filename.shellQuoted()); exit\n"
+            config.initialInput = "\(Ghostty.Shell.quote(filename)); exit\n"
             
             // For commands executed directly, we want to ensure we wait after exit
             // because in most cases scripts don't block on exit and we don't want
diff --git a/macos/Sources/Features/App Intents/NewTerminalIntent.swift b/macos/Sources/Features/App Intents/NewTerminalIntent.swift
index 142ce2951..6de9e1e7e 100644
--- a/macos/Sources/Features/App Intents/NewTerminalIntent.swift	
+++ b/macos/Sources/Features/App Intents/NewTerminalIntent.swift	
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ struct NewTerminalIntent: AppIntent {
         // We don't run command as "command" and instead use "initialInput" so
         // that we can get all the login scripts to setup things like PATH.
         if let command {
-            config.initialInput = "\(command.shellQuoted()); exit\n"
+            config.initialInput = "\(Ghostty.Shell.quote(command)); exit\n"
         }
 
         // If we were given a working directory then open that directory
diff --git a/macos/Sources/Ghostty/Ghostty.Shell.swift b/macos/Sources/Ghostty/Ghostty.Shell.swift
index c37ef74bf..2630b99a0 100644
--- a/macos/Sources/Ghostty/Ghostty.Shell.swift
+++ b/macos/Sources/Ghostty/Ghostty.Shell.swift
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 extension Ghostty {
-    struct Shell {
+    enum Shell {
         // Characters to escape in the shell.
-        static let escapeCharacters = "\\ ()[]{}<>\"'`!#$&;|*?\t"
+        private static let escapeCharacters = "\\ ()[]{}<>\"'`!#$&;|*?\t"
 
-        /// Escape shell-sensitive characters in string.
+        /// Escape shell-sensitive characters in a string by prefixing each with a
+        /// backslash. Suitable for inserting paths/URLs into a live terminal buffer.
         static func escape(_ str: String) -> String {
             var result = str
             for char in escapeCharacters {
@@ -15,5 +16,14 @@ extension Ghostty {
 
             return result
         }
+
+        private static let quoteUnsafe = /[^\w@%+=:,.\/-]/
+
+        /// Returns a shell-quoted version of the string, like Python's shlex.quote.
+        /// Suitable for building shell command lines that will be executed.
+        static func quote(_ str: String) -> String {
+            guard str.isEmpty || str.contains(Self.quoteUnsafe) else { return str }
+            return "'" + str.replacingOccurrences(of: "'", with: #"'"'"'"#) + "'"
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/macos/Sources/Helpers/Extensions/String+Extension.swift b/macos/Sources/Helpers/Extensions/String+Extension.swift
index 2a15cf283..03f715fd8 100644
--- a/macos/Sources/Helpers/Extensions/String+Extension.swift
+++ b/macos/Sources/Helpers/Extensions/String+Extension.swift
@@ -27,11 +27,5 @@ extension String {
     }
 #endif
 
-    private static let shellUnsafe = /[^\w@%+=:,.\/-]/
 
-    /// Returns a shell-escaped version of the string, like Python's shlex.quote.
-    func shellQuoted() -> String {
-        guard self.isEmpty || self.contains(Self.shellUnsafe) else { return self };
-        return "'" + self.replacingOccurrences(of: "'", with: #"'"'"'"#) + "'"
-    }
 }
diff --git a/macos/Tests/Helpers/Extensions/StringExtensionTests.swift b/macos/Tests/Ghostty/ShellTests.swift
similarity index 76%
rename from macos/Tests/Helpers/Extensions/StringExtensionTests.swift
rename to macos/Tests/Ghostty/ShellTests.swift
index 55bb73b38..c7b34b3d9 100644
--- a/macos/Tests/Helpers/Extensions/StringExtensionTests.swift
+++ b/macos/Tests/Ghostty/ShellTests.swift
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import Testing
 @testable import Ghostty
 
-struct StringExtensionTests {
+struct ShellTests {
     @Test(arguments: [
         ("", "''"),
         ("filename", "filename"),
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ struct StringExtensionTests {
         ("it's", "'it'\"'\"'s'"),
         ("file$'name'", "'file$'\"'\"'name'\"'\"''"),
     ])
-    func shellQuoted(input: String, expected: String) {
-        #expect(input.shellQuoted() == expected)
+    func quote(input: String, expected: String) {
+        #expect(Ghostty.Shell.quote(input) == expected)
     }
 }