diff --git a/src/lib/config/quote.ts b/src/lib/config/quote.ts
index 7126fbfdb9..769dd24e0b 100644
--- a/src/lib/config/quote.ts
+++ b/src/lib/config/quote.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ export function quote(s: string): string {
         .replaceAll(/(["\\$`!])/g, String.raw`\$1`)
         .replaceAll('\n', String.raw`\n`)
       + '"'
-    return "'" + s.replaceAll(/(['\\])/g, String.raw`\$1`) + "'"
+    return "'" + s + "'"
   }
 
   return s
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ export function parse(a: string): string {
   if (a.startsWith('"')) {
     a = a.replaceAll(String.raw`\n`, '\n')
   } else if (a.startsWith("'")) {
-    a = a.replaceAll('\\\\', '\\')
+    // single-quoted strings are literal in POSIX sh — no unescaping needed
   }
 
   const parsed = shell.parse(a)
diff --git a/test/unit/lib/config/quote.test.ts b/test/unit/lib/config/quote.test.ts
index 5d51474ea5..2d251e7f2a 100644
--- a/test/unit/lib/config/quote.test.ts
+++ b/test/unit/lib/config/quote.test.ts
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ describe('quote', function () {
     ['ab$c', "'ab$c'"],
     ['a\'bc', '"a\'bc"'],
     ['a\nb\nc', String.raw`"a\nb\nc"`],
-    [String.raw`foo\nb:ar\bz`, String.raw`'foo\\nb:ar\\bz'`],
+    [String.raw`foo\nb:ar\bz`, String.raw`'foo\nb:ar\bz'`],
   ]) {
     it(`${a}===${b}`, function () {
       expect(quote(a)).to.eq(b)