diff --git a/libexec/kak b/libexec/kak
new file mode 120000
index 00000000..a903b0d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libexec/kak
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../src/kak
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/Makefile b/src/Makefile
index e292af60..97d7bc5b 100644
--- a/src/Makefile
+++ b/src/Makefile
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ PREFIX ?= /usr/local
 DESTDIR ?= # root dir
 
 bindir := $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/bin
+libexecdir := $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/libexec/kak
 sharedir := $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/share/kak
 docdir := $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/share/doc/kak
 mandir := $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/share/man/man1
@@ -162,6 +163,7 @@ distclean: clean
 
 installdirs:
 	install -d $(bindir) \
+		$(libexecdir) \
 		$(sharedir)/rc \
 		$(sharedir)/colors \
 		$(sharedir)/doc \
@@ -170,6 +172,7 @@ installdirs:
 
 install: kak man installdirs
 	install -m 0755 kak $(bindir)
+	ln -rsf $(bindir)/kak $(libexecdir)/kak
 	install -m 0644 ../share/kak/kakrc $(sharedir)
 	install -m 0644 ../doc/pages/*.asciidoc $(sharedir)/doc
 	cp -r ../rc/* $(sharedir)/rc
diff --git a/src/shell_manager.cc b/src/shell_manager.cc
index 8d70dd1c..591a708d 100644
--- a/src/shell_manager.cc
+++ b/src/shell_manager.cc
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ ShellManager::ShellManager(ConstArrayView<EnvVarDesc> builtin_env_vars)
     // have access to the kak command regardless of if the user installed it
     {
         const char* path = getenv("PATH");
-        auto new_path = format("{}:{}", path, split_path(get_kak_binary_path()).first);
+        auto new_path = format("{}../libexec/kak:{}", split_path(get_kak_binary_path()).first, path);
         setenv("PATH", new_path.c_str(), 1);
     }
 }