diff --git a/src/daemon/systemd-unit.test.ts b/src/daemon/systemd-unit.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b7eced7c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/daemon/systemd-unit.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+
+import { parseSystemdExecStart } from "./systemd-unit.js";
+
+describe("parseSystemdExecStart", () => {
+  it("splits on whitespace outside quotes", () => {
+    const execStart = "/usr/bin/clawdbot gateway start --foo bar";
+    expect(parseSystemdExecStart(execStart)).toEqual([
+      "/usr/bin/clawdbot",
+      "gateway",
+      "start",
+      "--foo",
+      "bar",
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("preserves quoted arguments", () => {
+    const execStart = "/usr/bin/clawdbot gateway start --name \"My Bot\"";
+    expect(parseSystemdExecStart(execStart)).toEqual([
+      "/usr/bin/clawdbot",
+      "gateway",
+      "start",
+      "--name",
+      "My Bot",
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("supports backslash-escaped characters", () => {
+    const execStart = "/usr/bin/clawdbot gateway start --path \/tmp\/clawdbot";
+    expect(parseSystemdExecStart(execStart)).toEqual([
+      "/usr/bin/clawdbot",
+      "gateway",
+      "start",
+      "--path",
+      "/tmp/clawdbot",
+    ]);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/daemon/systemd-unit.ts b/src/daemon/systemd-unit.ts
index 50979e55d..003e0867c 100644
--- a/src/daemon/systemd-unit.ts
+++ b/src/daemon/systemd-unit.ts
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ export function parseSystemdExecStart(value: string): string[] {
       inQuotes = !inQuotes;
       continue;
     }
-    if (!inQuotes && /\\s/.test(char)) {
+    if (!inQuotes && /\s/.test(char)) {
       if (current) {
         args.push(current);
         current = "";