diff --git a/ark/attest/__tests__/utils.ts b/ark/attest/__tests__/utils.ts
index 5daf26e8ef..3496ddfe75 100644
--- a/ark/attest/__tests__/utils.ts
+++ b/ark/attest/__tests__/utils.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ export const runThenGetContents = (templatePath: string): string => {
 	const tempPath = templatePath + ".temp.ts"
 	copyFileSync(templatePath, tempPath)
 	try {
-		shell(`node --import=tsx ${tempPath}`, {
+		shell("node", ["--import=tsx", tempPath], {
 			cwd: dirName(),
 			env: {
 				ATTEST_failOnMissingSnapshots: "0"
diff --git a/ark/attest/cache/snapshots.ts b/ark/attest/cache/snapshots.ts
index 7421292bc6..6330eb955e 100644
--- a/ark/attest/cache/snapshots.ts
+++ b/ark/attest/cache/snapshots.ts
@@ -198,6 +198,9 @@ const runFormatterIfAvailable = (queuedUpdates: QueuedUpdate[]) => {
 	const { formatCmd: formatter, shouldFormat } = getConfig()
 	if (!shouldFormat) return
 
+	if (formatter.length === 0)
+		throw new Error("config formatCmd must be at least length 1")
+
 	try {
 		const updatedPaths = [
 			...new Set(
@@ -206,7 +209,9 @@ const runFormatterIfAvailable = (queuedUpdates: QueuedUpdate[]) => {
 				)
 			)
 		]
-		shell(`${formatter} ${updatedPaths.join(" ")}`)
+		const command = formatter[0]
+		const args = formatter.slice(1)
+		shell(command, [...args, "--", ...updatedPaths])
 	} catch {
 		// If formatter is unavailable or skipped, do nothing.
 	}
diff --git a/ark/attest/cli/trace.ts b/ark/attest/cli/trace.ts
index e32a098dcf..1f199ec41d 100644
--- a/ark/attest/cli/trace.ts
+++ b/ark/attest/cli/trace.ts
@@ -266,7 +266,8 @@ const generateTraceData = (
 ): string => {
 	try {
 		const output = getShellOutput(
-			`${baseDiagnosticTscCmd} --project ${tsconfigPath} --generateTrace ${traceDir}`,
+			baseDiagnosticTscCmd,
+			["--project", tsconfigPath, "--generateTrace", traceDir],
 			{ cwd: packageDir }
 		)
 		process.stdout.write(output) // Display tsc output directly
diff --git a/ark/attest/config.ts b/ark/attest/config.ts
index ccdf804b03..69aefabf26 100644
--- a/ark/attest/config.ts
+++ b/ark/attest/config.ts
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ type BaseAttestConfig = {
 	benchErrorOnThresholdExceeded: BenchErrorConfig
 	filter: string | undefined
 	testDeclarationAliases: string[]
-	formatCmd: string
+	formatCmd: string[]
 	shouldFormat: boolean
 	/**
 	 *  Provided options will override the following defaults.
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ export const getDefaultAttestConfig = (): BaseAttestConfig => ({
 	benchErrorOnThresholdExceeded: true,
 	filter: undefined,
 	testDeclarationAliases: ["bench", "it", "test"],
-	formatCmd: `npm exec --no -- prettier --write`,
+	formatCmd: ["npm", "exec", "--no", "--", "prettier", "--write"],
 	shouldFormat: true,
 	typeToStringFormat: {}
 })
diff --git a/ark/attest/fixtures.ts b/ark/attest/fixtures.ts
index 031f2e2b8a..9b509664de 100644
--- a/ark/attest/fixtures.ts
+++ b/ark/attest/fixtures.ts
@@ -27,9 +27,9 @@ export const setup = (options?: Partial<AttestConfig>): typeof teardown => {
 			)
 			// if we're in our own repo, we need to pnpm to use the root script to execute ts directly
 			if (fileName().endsWith("ts"))
-				shell(`pnpm attest precache ${precachePath}`)
+				shell("pnpm", ["attest", "precache", precachePath])
 			// otherwise, just use npm to run the CLI command from build output
-			else shell(`npm exec -c "attest precache ${precachePath}"`)
+			else shell("npm", ["exec", "-c", "attest", "precache", precachePath])
 		})
 	}
 	return teardown
diff --git a/ark/fs/fs.ts b/ark/fs/fs.ts
index 98729c0887..24aea2a337 100644
--- a/ark/fs/fs.ts
+++ b/ark/fs/fs.ts
@@ -174,7 +174,12 @@ export const readPackageJson = (startDir = dirOfCaller()): any =>
 
 export const getSourceControlPaths = (): string[] =>
 	// include tracked and untracked files as long as they are not ignored
-	getShellOutput("git ls-files --exclude-standard --cached --others")
+	getShellOutput("git", [
+		"ls-files",
+		"--exclude-standard",
+		"--cached",
+		"--others"
+	])
 		.split("\n")
 		.filter(path => existsSync(path) && statSync(path).isFile())
 
diff --git a/ark/fs/shell.ts b/ark/fs/shell.ts
index 17e14765ff..cabe017bac 100644
--- a/ark/fs/shell.ts
+++ b/ark/fs/shell.ts
@@ -1,29 +1,36 @@
-import { execSync, type ExecSyncOptions } from "node:child_process"
+import { spawnSync, type SpawnSyncOptions } from "node:child_process"
 import * as process from "node:process"
 
-export type ShellOptions = Omit<ExecSyncOptions, "stdio"> & {
+export type ShellOptions = Omit<SpawnSyncOptions, "stdio"> & {
 	env?: Record<string, string | undefined>
 }
 
 /** Run the cmd synchronously. Output goes to terminal. */
 export const shell = (
 	cmd: string,
+	args: string[],
 	{ env, ...otherOptions }: ShellOptions = {}
 ): void => {
-	execSync(cmd, {
+	const result = spawnSync(cmd, args, {
 		env: { ...process.env, ...env },
 		...otherOptions,
 		stdio: "inherit"
 	})
+	if (result.error) throw result.error
 }
 
 /** Run the cmd synchronously, returning output as a string */
 export const getShellOutput = (
 	cmd: string,
+	args: string[],
 	{ env, ...otherOptions }: ShellOptions = {}
-): string =>
-	execSync(cmd, {
+): string => {
+	const result = spawnSync(cmd, args, {
 		env: { ...process.env, ...env },
 		...otherOptions,
 		stdio: "pipe"
-	})!.toString()
+	})
+	if (result.error) throw result.error
+
+	return result.toString()
+}
diff --git a/ark/repo/build.ts b/ark/repo/build.ts
index 2196c17a05..061e0d4a66 100644
--- a/ark/repo/build.ts
+++ b/ark/repo/build.ts
@@ -19,9 +19,11 @@ const outDir = fromCwd("out")
 const packageName = readPackageJson(process.cwd()).name
 
 const buildCurrentProject = () =>
-	shell(
-		`node ${fromHere("node_modules", "typescript", "lib", "tsc.js")} --project tsconfig.build.json`
-	)
+	shell("node", [
+		fromHere("node_modules", "typescript", "lib", "tsc.js"),
+		"--project",
+		"tsconfig.build.json"
+	])
 
 try {
 	rmRf(outDir)
diff --git a/ark/repo/dtsGen.ts b/ark/repo/dtsGen.ts
index dfc0f00a9b..a1d0f4a809 100644
--- a/ark/repo/dtsGen.ts
+++ b/ark/repo/dtsGen.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,16 @@ export const dtsGen = () => {
 
 	console.log(`✍️ Generating DTS bundle for ${pkg.name}...`)
 
-	shell("pnpm tsup index.ts --dts-only --dts-resolve --format esm --out-dir .")
+	shell("pnpm", [
+		"tsup",
+		"index.ts",
+		"--dts-only",
+		"--dts-resolve",
+		"--format",
+		"esm",
+		"--out-dir",
+		"."
+	])
 
 	const expectedDtsBundlePath = join(pkg.path, "index.d.ts")
 
diff --git a/ark/repo/publish.ts b/ark/repo/publish.ts
index 020f5d4b8d..dd83676d97 100644
--- a/ark/repo/publish.ts
+++ b/ark/repo/publish.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import { packages, type ArkPackage } from "./shared.ts"
 
 const tagsToPublish: string[] = []
 
-const existingTags = getShellOutput("git tag").split("\n")
+const existingTags = getShellOutput("git", ["tag"]).split("\n")
 
 const publishPackage = (pkg: ArkPackage, alias?: string) => {
 	const tagName = `${alias ?? pkg.name}@${pkg.version}`
@@ -11,9 +11,9 @@ const publishPackage = (pkg: ArkPackage, alias?: string) => {
 	if (!existingTags.includes(tagName)) {
 		if (alias) rewritePackageJsonName(pkg.packageJsonPath, alias)
 
-		shell(`git tag ${tagName}`)
+		shell("git", ["tag", tagName])
 		tagsToPublish.push(tagName)
-		shell("pnpm publish --no-git-checks", { cwd: pkg.path })
+		shell("pnpm", ["publish", "--no-git-checks"], { cwd: pkg.path })
 
 		if (alias) rewritePackageJsonName(pkg.packageJsonPath, pkg.name)
 	}
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ for (const pkg of packages) {
 	}
 }
 
-shell("git push --tags")
+shell("git", ["push", "--tags"])
 
 for (const tagName of tagsToPublish)
-	shell(`gh release create ${tagName} --latest`)
+	shell("gh", ["release", "create", tagName, "--latest"])
diff --git a/ark/repo/testPackage.ts b/ark/repo/testPackage.ts
index 8bb2c966d5..7ef33643a0 100644
--- a/ark/repo/testPackage.ts
+++ b/ark/repo/testPackage.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 import { fromHere, shell } from "@ark/fs"
 
-shell(
-	`pnpm mocha --config ${fromHere("mocha.package.jsonc")} ${process.argv
-		.slice(2)
-		.join(" ")}`
-)
+shell("pnpm", [
+	"mocha",
+	"--config",
+	fromHere("mocha.package.jsonc"),
+	process.argv.slice(2).join(" ")
+])