diff --git a/src/Surface.zig b/src/Surface.zig
index 4a5a44f56..05199e889 100644
--- a/src/Surface.zig
+++ b/src/Surface.zig
@@ -1073,9 +1073,10 @@ pub fn handleMessage(self: *Surface, msg: Message) !void {
         .pwd_change => |w| {
             defer w.deinit();
 
-            // We always allocate for this because we need to null-terminate.
-            const str = try self.alloc.dupeZ(u8, w.slice());
-            defer self.alloc.free(str);
+            var stack = std.heap.stackFallback(256, self.alloc);
+            const alloc = stack.get();
+            const str = try alloc.dupeZ(u8, w.slice());
+            defer alloc.free(str);
 
             _ = try self.rt_app.performAction(
                 .{ .surface = self },