diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index a367ed88..c99dd21f 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -501,29 +501,59 @@ str_to_pt_or_px(const char *s, struct pt_or_px *res, struct config *conf,
     return true;
 }
 
+
+static void NOINLINE
+free_spawn_template(struct config_spawn_template *template)
+{
+    if (template->argv == NULL)
+        return;
+
+    for (char **argv = template->argv; *argv != NULL; argv++)
+            free(*argv);
+    free(template->argv);
+    template->argv = NULL;
+}
+
+static void NOINLINE
+clone_spawn_template(struct config_spawn_template *dst,
+                     const struct config_spawn_template *src)
+{
+    if (src->argv == NULL) {
+        dst->argv = NULL;
+        return;
+    }
+
+    size_t count = 0;
+    for (char **argv = src->argv; *argv != NULL; argv++)
+        count++;
+
+    dst->argv = xmalloc((count + 1) * sizeof(dst->argv[0]));
+    for (char **argv_src = src->argv, **argv_dst = dst->argv;
+         *argv_src != NULL; argv_src++,
+             argv_dst++)
+    {
+        *argv_dst = xstrdup(*argv_src);
+    }
+    dst->argv[count] = NULL;
+}
+
 static bool NOINLINE
 str_to_spawn_template(struct config *conf,
                       const char *s, struct config_spawn_template *template,
                       const char *path, int lineno, const char *section,
                       const char *key)
 {
-    free(template->raw_cmd);
-    free(template->argv);
+    free_spawn_template(template);
 
-    template->raw_cmd = NULL;
-    template->argv = NULL;
-
-    char *raw_cmd = xstrdup(s);
     char **argv = NULL;
 
-    if (!tokenize_cmdline(raw_cmd, &argv)) {
+    if (!tokenize_cmdline(s, &argv)) {
         LOG_AND_NOTIFY_ERR(
             "%s:%d: [%s]: %s: syntax error in command line",
             path, lineno, section, key);
         return false;
     }
 
-    template->raw_cmd = raw_cmd;
     template->argv = argv;
     return true;
 }
@@ -2594,7 +2624,6 @@ config_load(struct config *conf, const char *conf_path,
             .urgent = false,
             .notify = false,
             .command = {
-                .raw_cmd = NULL,
                 .argv = NULL,
             },
             .command_focused = false,
@@ -2671,7 +2700,6 @@ config_load(struct config *conf, const char *conf_path,
         .selection_target = SELECTION_TARGET_PRIMARY,
         .hold_at_exit = false,
         .notify = {
-            .raw_cmd = NULL,
             .argv = NULL,
         },
 
@@ -2717,12 +2745,9 @@ config_load(struct config *conf, const char *conf_path,
         }
     }
 
-    conf->notify.raw_cmd = xstrdup(
-        "notify-send -a ${app-id} -i ${app-id} ${title} ${body}");
-    tokenize_cmdline(conf->notify.raw_cmd, &conf->notify.argv);
-
-    conf->url.launch.raw_cmd = xstrdup("xdg-open ${url}");
-    tokenize_cmdline(conf->url.launch.raw_cmd, &conf->url.launch.argv);
+    tokenize_cmdline("notify-send -a ${app-id} -i ${app-id} ${title} ${body}",
+                     &conf->notify.argv);
+    tokenize_cmdline("xdg-open ${url}", &conf->url.launch.argv);
 
     static const wchar_t *url_protocols[] = {
         L"http://",
@@ -2847,13 +2872,6 @@ config_override_apply(struct config *conf, config_override_t *overrides, bool er
     return true;
 }
 
-static void NOINLINE
-free_spawn_template(struct config_spawn_template *template)
-{
-    free(template->raw_cmd);
-    free(template->argv);
-}
-
 static void NOINLINE
 binding_pipe_free(struct config_binding_pipe *pipe)
 {
diff --git a/config.h b/config.h
index bdb1a109..a82a0cd1 100644
--- a/config.h
+++ b/config.h
@@ -63,7 +63,6 @@ DEFINE_LIST(struct config_mouse_binding);
 typedef tll(char *) config_override_t;
 
 struct config_spawn_template {
-    char *raw_cmd;
     char **argv;
 };
 
diff --git a/slave.c b/slave.c
index 8e800214..ba2d0867 100644
--- a/slave.c
+++ b/slave.c
@@ -293,9 +293,7 @@ slave_spawn(int ptmx, int argc, const char *cwd, char *const *argv,
         char **shell_argv = NULL;
 
         if (argc == 0) {
-            char *shell_copy = xstrdup(conf_shell);
-            if (!tokenize_cmdline(shell_copy, &_shell_argv)) {
-                free(shell_copy);
+            if (!tokenize_cmdline(conf_shell, &_shell_argv)) {
                 (void)!write(fork_pipe[1], &errno, sizeof(errno));
                 _exit(0);
             }
diff --git a/tokenize.c b/tokenize.c
index 35d52345..e29fed58 100644
--- a/tokenize.c
+++ b/tokenize.c
@@ -6,9 +6,10 @@
 #define LOG_MODULE "tokenize"
 #define LOG_ENABLE_DBG 0
 #include "log.h"
+#include "xmalloc.h"
 
 static bool
-push_argv(char ***argv, size_t *size, char *arg, size_t *argc)
+push_argv(char ***argv, size_t *size, const char *arg, size_t len, size_t *argc)
 {
     if (arg != NULL && arg[0] == '%')
         return true;
@@ -24,21 +25,23 @@ push_argv(char ***argv, size_t *size, char *arg, size_t *argc)
         *size = new_size;
     }
 
-    (*argv)[(*argc)++] = arg;
+    (*argv)[(*argc)++] = arg != NULL ? xstrndup(arg, len) : NULL;
     return true;
 }
 
 bool
-tokenize_cmdline(char *cmdline, char ***argv)
+tokenize_cmdline(const char *cmdline, char ***argv)
 {
     *argv = NULL;
     size_t argv_size = 0;
 
+    const char *final_end = cmdline + strlen(cmdline) + 1;
+
     bool first_token_is_quoted = cmdline[0] == '"' || cmdline[0] == '\'';
     char delim = first_token_is_quoted ? cmdline[0] : ' ';
 
-    char *p = first_token_is_quoted ? &cmdline[1] : &cmdline[0];
-    char *search_start = p;
+    const char *p = first_token_is_quoted ? &cmdline[1] : &cmdline[0];
+    const char *search_start = p;
 
     size_t idx = 0;
     while (*p != '\0') {
@@ -51,8 +54,8 @@ tokenize_cmdline(char *cmdline, char ***argv)
                 return false;
             }
 
-            if (!push_argv(argv, &argv_size, p, &idx) ||
-                !push_argv(argv, &argv_size, NULL, &idx))
+            if (!push_argv(argv, &argv_size, p, final_end - p, &idx) ||
+                !push_argv(argv, &argv_size, NULL, 0, &idx))
             {
                 goto err;
             } else
@@ -68,9 +71,9 @@ tokenize_cmdline(char *cmdline, char ***argv)
             continue;
         }
 
-        *end = '\0';
+        //*end = '\0';
 
-        if (!push_argv(argv, &argv_size, p, &idx))
+        if (!push_argv(argv, &argv_size, p, end - p, &idx))
             goto err;
 
         p = end + 1;
@@ -88,7 +91,7 @@ tokenize_cmdline(char *cmdline, char ***argv)
         search_start = p;
     }
 
-    if (!push_argv(argv, &argv_size, NULL, &idx))
+    if (!push_argv(argv, &argv_size, NULL, 0, &idx))
         goto err;
 
     return true;
diff --git a/tokenize.h b/tokenize.h
index f9579255..9e5de6c9 100644
--- a/tokenize.h
+++ b/tokenize.h
@@ -2,4 +2,4 @@
 
 #include <stdbool.h>
 
-bool tokenize_cmdline(char *cmdline, char ***argv);
+bool tokenize_cmdline(const char *cmdline, char ***argv);