diff --git a/src/main/java/bio/terra/cli/app/CommandRunner.java b/src/main/java/bio/terra/cli/app/CommandRunner.java
index 15ee00fe1..76864d25d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/bio/terra/cli/app/CommandRunner.java
+++ b/src/main/java/bio/terra/cli/app/CommandRunner.java
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Optional;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
@@ -31,7 +32,13 @@ protected static String buildFullCommand(List<String> command) {
     String fullCommand = "";
     if (command != null && command.size() > 0) {
       final String argSeparator = " ";
-      fullCommand += argSeparator + String.join(argSeparator, command);
+      fullCommand +=
+          argSeparator
+              + String.join(
+                  argSeparator,
+                  command.stream()
+                      .map(i -> "\"" + i.replace("\"", "\\\"") + "\"")
+                      .collect(Collectors.toList()));
     }
     return fullCommand;
   }
diff --git a/src/test/java/unit/PassthroughApps.java b/src/test/java/unit/PassthroughApps.java
index b08655141..a4cbaee55 100644
--- a/src/test/java/unit/PassthroughApps.java
+++ b/src/test/java/unit/PassthroughApps.java
@@ -86,6 +86,23 @@ void appList() throws IOException {
     assertTrue(appList.containsAll(Arrays.asList("gcloud", "gsutil", "bq", "nextflow", "git")));
   }
 
+  @Test
+  @DisplayName("app execute respects arguments with spaces")
+  void appExecuteSpace() throws IOException {
+    workspaceCreator.login(/*writeGcloudAuthFiles=*/ true);
+
+    // `terra workspace set --id=$id`
+    TestCommand.runAndParseCommandExpectSuccess(
+        UFWorkspace.class, "workspace", "set", "--id=" + getUserFacingId());
+
+    // `terra app execute sh -c "echo Hello World"`
+    TestCommand.Result cmd =
+        TestCommand.runCommand("app", "execute", "sh", "-c", "\"echo Hello World\"");
+
+    // Check that the output was printed
+    assertThat("Output is correct", cmd.stdOut, CoreMatchers.containsString("Hello World"));
+  }
+
   @Test
   @DisplayName("env vars include terra user and workspace cloud project")
   void workspaceEnvVars() throws IOException {