diff --git a/modules/completion/ivy/autoload/ivy.el b/modules/completion/ivy/autoload/ivy.el
index dca6d7542..707dea79d 100644
--- a/modules/completion/ivy/autoload/ivy.el
+++ b/modules/completion/ivy/autoload/ivy.el
@@ -307,6 +307,20 @@ The point of this is to avoid Emacs locking up indexing massive file trees."
 
          (#'counsel-file-jump))))
 
+(defvar +ivy-file-search-shell
+  (or (executable-find "dash")
+      (executable-find "sh")
+      shell-file-name)
+  "The SHELL to invoke ag/rg/pt/git-grep/grep searchs from.
+
+This only affects `+ivy/*' search commands (e.g. `+ivy/rg' and
+`+ivy/project-search').
+
+By default, this the most basic, uncustomized shell, to prevent interference
+caused by slow shell configs at the cost of isolating these programs from
+envvars that may have been set in the user's shell config to change their
+behavior. If this bothers you, change this to `shell-file-name'.")
+
 ;;;###autoload
 (cl-defun +ivy-file-search (engine &key query in all-files (recursive t))
   "Conduct a file search using ENGINE, which can be any of: rg, ag, pt, and
@@ -359,7 +373,8 @@ order.
                         ((file-relative-name directory project-root))))))
     (require 'counsel)
     (let ((ivy-more-chars-alist
-           (if query '((t . 1)) ivy-more-chars-alist)))
+           (if query '((t . 1)) ivy-more-chars-alist))
+          (shell-file-name +ivy-file-search-shell))
       (pcase engine
         (`grep
          (let ((counsel-projectile-grep-initial-input query))