diff --git a/docs/config/launch.md b/docs/config/launch.md
index 1708ef20d..91521dddd 100644
--- a/docs/config/launch.md
+++ b/docs/config/launch.md
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ have `$SHELL` set in the environment, you will need to sign out and
 sign back in again for the environment to pick up your new `$SHELL`
 value.
 
+*Since: nightly builds only*: wezterm will now always resolve the shell via the
+password database.
+
 ### On Windows Systems
 
 1. The value of the `%COMSPEC%` environment variable is used if it is set.
diff --git a/env-bootstrap/src/lib.rs b/env-bootstrap/src/lib.rs
index 267c401ba..b4c1c6a22 100644
--- a/env-bootstrap/src/lib.rs
+++ b/env-bootstrap/src/lib.rs
@@ -198,4 +198,10 @@ pub fn bootstrap() {
     // wezterm or the mux server from inside gnome terminal.
     // <https://github.com/wez/wezterm/issues/2237>
     std::env::remove_var("VTE_VERSION");
+
+    // Sice folks don't like to reboot or sign out if they `chsh`,
+    // SHELL may be stale. Rather than using a stale value, unset
+    // it so that pty::CommandBuilder::get_shell will resolve the
+    // shell from the password database instead.
+    std::env::remove_var("SHELL");
 }