From 466c7008e049fd7431c073f053e58544032b3337 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: rari404 <138394996+edlsh@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2026 05:02:25 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] terminal: Skip SHLVL when loading login shell environment
 (#46273)
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Fixes #33958

## Problem

PR #44835 attempted to fix SHLVL starting at 2 by removing it from the
`env` HashMap passed to alacritty. However, that HashMap is only an
**overlay** — alacritty uses the parent process environment as a base
and applies the overlay on top. Since alacritty never calls
`env_remove("SHLVL")`, the terminal shell still inherits `SHLVL` from
Zed's process environment.

## Root Cause

The real issue is in `load_login_shell_environment()`:

1. `shell_env::capture()` spawns a login shell to capture environment
variables
2. That login shell increments `SHLVL` (from 0→1 or n→n+1)
3. The captured env (including the incremented `SHLVL`) is written to
Zed's **process environment** via `env::set_var`
4. When you open a terminal, the shell inherits Zed's `SHLVL` and
increments it again → starts at 2
5. On reload, `shell_env::capture()` runs again with the
already-elevated `SHLVL`, incrementing it further → +2 per reload

## Fix

Skip `SHLVL` when setting Zed's process environment in
`load_login_shell_environment()`. This prevents the login-shell capture
from polluting Zed's env, so terminals start fresh with the correct
`SHLVL`.
---
 crates/util/src/util.rs | 7 +++++++
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+)

diff --git a/crates/util/src/util.rs b/crates/util/src/util.rs
index 5961089a3b228e2b76cd3225568eab298c2baf3f..9b099f04983909b55e0fc5c161fd911210e96f37 100644
--- a/crates/util/src/util.rs
+++ b/crates/util/src/util.rs
@@ -365,6 +365,13 @@ pub async fn load_login_shell_environment() -> Result<()> {
         .await
         .with_context(|| format!("capturing environment with {:?}", get_system_shell()))?
     {
+        // Skip SHLVL to prevent it from polluting Zed's process environment.
+        // The login shell used for env capture increments SHLVL, and if we propagate it,
+        // terminals spawned by Zed will inherit it and increment again, causing SHLVL
+        // to start at 2 instead of 1 (and increase by 2 on each reload).
+        if name == "SHLVL" {
+            continue;
+        }
         unsafe { env::set_var(&name, &value) };
     }