diff --git a/packages/rstack/src/setup/hooks.ts b/packages/rstack/src/setup/hooks.ts
index 4dc68da..518d478 100644
--- a/packages/rstack/src/setup/hooks.ts
+++ b/packages/rstack/src/setup/hooks.ts
@@ -17,9 +17,22 @@ const hookNames = [
   'pre-auto-gc',
 ];
 
+// Git for Windows runs hooks in a POSIX shell, where drive-letter paths need
+// their Git Bash form to avoid treating the drive colon as a PATH separator.
+const quoteShellPath = (value: string): string => {
+  const shellPath =
+    process.platform === 'win32'
+      ? value
+          .replaceAll('\\', '/')
+          .replace(/^([A-Za-z]):\//u, (_, drive: string) => `/${drive.toLowerCase()}/`)
+      : value;
+
+  return `'${shellPath.replaceAll("'", `'"'"'`)}'`;
+};
+
 // Generated shims live in `<hooks-directory>/_`. When a shim sources this
 // dispatcher, `$0` still points to the shim, so the user hook is one level up.
-const dispatcher = `#!/usr/bin/env sh
+const createDispatcher = (nodeExecutable: string): string => `#!/usr/bin/env sh
 
 name=$(basename "$0")
 dir=$(dirname "$(dirname "$0")")
@@ -33,7 +46,14 @@ init="\${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/rstack/hooks-init.sh"
 [ "\${RSTACK_HOOKS-}" = "0" ] && exit 0
 [ "\${RSTACK_HOOKS-}" = "2" ] && set -x
 
-export PATH="node_modules/.bin:$PATH"
+# Fall back to the Node.js executable that ran rs setup when GUI clients omit
+# it from PATH. Keep an existing Node.js environment ahead of this fallback.
+node_fallback=${quoteShellPath(nodeExecutable)}
+if ! command -v node >/dev/null 2>&1 && [ -x "$node_fallback" ]; then
+  PATH="\${PATH:+$PATH:}\${node_fallback%/*}"
+fi
+
+export PATH="node_modules/.bin\${PATH:+:$PATH}"
 
 code=0
 sh -e "$hook" "$@" || code=$?
@@ -49,8 +69,10 @@ const shim = `#!/usr/bin/env sh
 . "$(dirname "$0")/runner"
 `;
 
-export const createHookFiles = (): Record<string, string> => {
-  const files: Record<string, string> = { runner: dispatcher };
+export const createHookFiles = (
+  nodeExecutable: string = process.execPath,
+): Record<string, string> => {
+  const files: Record<string, string> = { runner: createDispatcher(nodeExecutable) };
 
   for (const name of hookNames) {
     files[name] = shim;
diff --git a/packages/rstack/tests/setup/hooks.test.ts b/packages/rstack/tests/setup/hooks.test.ts
index 9c81021..882e1b6 100644
--- a/packages/rstack/tests/setup/hooks.test.ts
+++ b/packages/rstack/tests/setup/hooks.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { spawnSync } from 'node:child_process';
-import { mkdirSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { mkdirSync, symlinkSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs';
 import path from 'node:path';
 import { expect, test } from 'rstack/test';
 import { createHookFiles } from '../../src/setup/hooks.ts';
@@ -28,16 +28,33 @@ test('generates the dispatcher and all client-side Git hook shims', () => {
   expect(new Set(Object.values(shims)).size).toBe(1);
 });
 
+test.runIf(process.platform === 'win32')('converts Windows Node paths', () => {
+  const { runner } = createHookFiles(String.raw`C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe`);
+
+  expect(runner).toContain("node_fallback='/c/Program Files/nodejs/node.exe'");
+});
+
+test.runIf(process.platform !== 'win32')('preserves backslashes in POSIX Node paths', () => {
+  const nodeExecutable = String.raw`/opt/node\24/bin/node`;
+  const { runner } = createHookFiles(nodeExecutable);
+
+  expect(runner).toContain(`node_fallback='${nodeExecutable}'`);
+});
+
 test.runIf(process.platform !== 'win32')('runs generated hooks', () => {
   withDirectory((directory) => {
-    const hooksDirectory = path.join(directory, 'hooks with spaces');
+    const hooksDirectory = path.join(directory, "hooks with ' quotes");
     const generatedDirectory = path.join(hooksDirectory, '_');
     const generatedHook = path.join(generatedDirectory, 'pre-commit');
     const userHook = path.join(hooksDirectory, 'pre-commit');
-    const files = createHookFiles();
+    const fallbackNode = path.join(hooksDirectory, 'node');
+    const configDirectory = path.join(directory, 'runtime config');
+    const runtimeDirectory = path.join(configDirectory, 'rstack');
+    const init = path.join(runtimeDirectory, 'hooks-init.sh');
+    const files = createHookFiles(fallbackNode);
     const env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = {
       ...process.env,
-      XDG_CONFIG_HOME: path.join(directory, 'config'),
+      XDG_CONFIG_HOME: configDirectory,
     };
 
     mkdirSync(generatedDirectory, { recursive: true });
@@ -71,5 +88,20 @@ printf 'unreachable\\n'
 
     expect(errexitResult.status).toBe(1);
     expect(errexitResult.stdout).toBe('Rstack - pre-commit hook failed (code 1)\n');
+
+    mkdirSync(runtimeDirectory, { recursive: true });
+    writeFileSync(init, `export PATH="${runtimeDirectory}"\n`);
+    writeFileSync(userHook, 'command -v node\n');
+    symlinkSync('/bin/sh', path.join(runtimeDirectory, 'sh'));
+    symlinkSync('/bin/sh', fallbackNode);
+
+    const fallbackResult = spawnSync('sh', [generatedHook], { encoding: 'utf8', env });
+    expect(fallbackResult.stdout).toBe(`${fallbackNode}\n`);
+
+    const activeNode = path.join(runtimeDirectory, 'node');
+    symlinkSync('/bin/sh', activeNode);
+
+    const activeResult = spawnSync('sh', [generatedHook], { encoding: 'utf8', env });
+    expect(activeResult.stdout).toBe(`${activeNode}\n`);
   });
 });