diff --git a/bin/gstack-paths b/bin/gstack-paths
index 1a7e073065..2d86207ba3 100755
--- a/bin/gstack-paths
+++ b/bin/gstack-paths
@@ -13,9 +13,15 @@
 #   PLAN_ROOT:         GSTACK_PLAN_DIR -> CLAUDE_PLANS_DIR -> $HOME/.claude/plans -> .claude/plans
 #   TMP_ROOT:          TMPDIR -> TMP -> .gstack/tmp (and mkdir -p, best-effort)
 #
-# Security: output values are not sanitized — callers may receive paths with
-# shell-special characters if env vars contain them. Skills should always quote
-# expansions ("$GSTACK_STATE_ROOT", not $GSTACK_STATE_ROOT).
+# Output: values are emitted shell-quoted (printf %q) so `eval` round-trips them
+# byte-for-byte. This matters on Windows, where $TMP is a backslash path like
+# C:\Users\me\AppData\Local\Temp — with a bare `echo`, eval consumes the
+# backslashes as escapes and the caller gets C:UsersmeAppDataLocalTemp. A value
+# containing a space (C:\Program Files\Temp) is worse: eval word-splits it and
+# the variable ends up empty. Quoting here is the only fix that works, because
+# the corruption happens during eval, before the caller has anything to quote.
+# Callers should still quote expansions ("$GSTACK_STATE_ROOT") for the same
+# reason any path variable needs quoting.
 set -u
 
 # State root: where gstack writes projects/, sessions/, analytics/.
@@ -60,6 +66,6 @@ fi
 # will discover that on their own write attempt. Don't fail the eval here.
 mkdir -p "$_tmp_root" 2>/dev/null || true
 
-echo "GSTACK_STATE_ROOT=$_state_root"
-echo "PLAN_ROOT=$_plan_root"
-echo "TMP_ROOT=$_tmp_root"
+printf 'GSTACK_STATE_ROOT=%q\n' "$_state_root"
+printf 'PLAN_ROOT=%q\n' "$_plan_root"
+printf 'TMP_ROOT=%q\n' "$_tmp_root"
diff --git a/test/gstack-paths.test.ts b/test/gstack-paths.test.ts
index 42c13c3acd..628f599194 100644
--- a/test/gstack-paths.test.ts
+++ b/test/gstack-paths.test.ts
@@ -104,6 +104,57 @@ describe('gstack-paths', () => {
     expect(got).toHaveProperty('TMP_ROOT');
   });
 
+  // Regression: values must survive `eval "$(gstack-paths)"`, which is the
+  // documented calling convention. A bare `echo` emits an unquoted RHS, so eval
+  // re-parses it: backslashes become escapes and spaces become word separators.
+  // On Windows $TMP is always a backslash path, so every skill that then runs
+  // mktemp "$TMP_ROOT/..." fails and the bash block dies before doing any work.
+  // These run identically on POSIX — the values are just strings.
+  function evalRoundTrip(env: Record<string, string | undefined>, varName: string): string {
+    const result = spawnSync(
+      'bash',
+      ['-c', `eval "$(bash "$1")"; printf '%s' "\${${varName}}"`, 'sh', BIN],
+      {
+        env: { PATH: process.env.PATH, USERPROFILE: '', ...env } as Record<string, string>,
+        encoding: 'utf-8',
+      },
+    );
+    if (result.status !== 0) {
+      throw new Error(`eval round-trip failed (status ${result.status}): ${result.stderr}`);
+    }
+    return result.stdout;
+  }
+
+  // Values are POSIX-shaped on purpose: MSYS/Git Bash rewrites `C:\...` env
+  // values to `/c/...` before bash sees them, so a literal Windows path would
+  // assert the translation layer rather than the quoting. A backslash is a
+  // backslash to eval either way, which is the behavior under test.
+  test('eval round-trip preserves backslashes (#2374)', () => {
+    // Skip on Windows: MSYS also rewrites backslashes to forward slashes in
+    // env values, so a literal backslash cannot be injected through the
+    // environment on a Git Bash runner. The escape-eating this guards against
+    // is pure eval semantics, so exercising it on Linux/macOS CI is sufficient
+    // — same reasoning as the HOME-unset skips above.
+    if (process.platform === 'win32') return;
+    const backslashed = '/tmp/back\\slash/dir';
+    expect(evalRoundTrip({ TMPDIR: backslashed, HOME: '/h' }, 'TMP_ROOT')).toBe(backslashed);
+  });
+
+  test('eval round-trip preserves spaces (#2374)', () => {
+    // Bare echo made eval word-split this, leaving the variable empty and
+    // emitting `<second-word>: command not found`.
+    const spaced = '/tmp/two words/dir';
+    expect(evalRoundTrip({ TMPDIR: spaced, HOME: '/h' }, 'TMP_ROOT')).toBe(spaced);
+  });
+
+  test('eval round-trip preserves quotes, and leaves plain paths alone (#2374)', () => {
+    expect(evalRoundTrip({ TMPDIR: "/tmp/o'brien", HOME: '/h' }, 'TMP_ROOT')).toBe("/tmp/o'brien");
+    expect(evalRoundTrip({ GSTACK_HOME: '/tmp/state root' }, 'GSTACK_STATE_ROOT')).toBe(
+      '/tmp/state root',
+    );
+    expect(evalRoundTrip({ HOME: '/tmp/myhome' }, 'PLAN_ROOT')).toBe('/tmp/myhome/.claude/plans');
+  });
+
   test('output is shell-evalable: only KEY=VALUE lines, no extra prose', () => {
     const result = spawnSync('bash', [BIN], {
       env: { PATH: process.env.PATH, USERPROFILE: '', HOME: '/tmp/h' } as Record<string, string>,