diff --git a/packages/opencode/src/cli/cmd/run.ts b/packages/opencode/src/cli/cmd/run.ts
index 2038b5fc03..aa19ea27f8 100644
--- a/packages/opencode/src/cli/cmd/run.ts
+++ b/packages/opencode/src/cli/cmd/run.ts
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import { UI } from "../ui"
 import { effectCmd } from "../effect-cmd"
 import { Flag } from "@opencode-ai/core/flag/flag"
 import { ServerAuth } from "@/server/auth"
+import { buildRunMessage } from "@/kilocode/cli/cmd/run-message" // kilocode_change
 import { EOL } from "os"
 import { Filesystem } from "@/util/filesystem"
 import { createKiloClient, type KiloClient, type ToolPart } from "@kilocode/sdk/v2"
@@ -263,9 +264,7 @@ export const RunCommand = effectCmd({
         throw error
       }
 
-      let message = [...args.message, ...(args["--"] || [])]
-        .map((arg) => (arg.includes(" ") ? `"${arg.replace(/"/g, '\\"')}"` : arg))
-        .join(" ")
+      let message = buildRunMessage(args.message, args["--"]) // kilocode_change
 
       if (args.interactive && args.command) {
         die("--interactive cannot be used with --command")
diff --git a/packages/opencode/src/kilocode/cli/cmd/run-message.ts b/packages/opencode/src/kilocode/cli/cmd/run-message.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4dc3eeb771
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/opencode/src/kilocode/cli/cmd/run-message.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+// Atoms before `--` are positional shell arguments where re-quoting around
+// embedded spaces preserves the user's word-binding intent (PR #4979).
+// Atoms in `args["--"]` are raw passthrough per yargs `populate--` semantics:
+// the user typed `--` to opt out of further parsing, so the assembler must
+// not synthesize quote bytes around them. Re-quoting raw atoms breaks
+// leading-dash inputs like `kilo run -- "- Who are you?"` (#9622) by
+// emitting `"- Who are you?"` (literal quotes) into the model prompt.
+export function buildRunMessage(positionals: string[], dash?: string[]): string {
+  const quoted = positionals.map((arg) => (arg.includes(" ") ? `"${arg.replace(/"/g, '\\"')}"` : arg))
+  return [...quoted, ...(dash ?? [])].join(" ")
+}
diff --git a/packages/opencode/test/kilocode/cli/cmd/run-message.test.ts b/packages/opencode/test/kilocode/cli/cmd/run-message.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e1179e65cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/opencode/test/kilocode/cli/cmd/run-message.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+import { describe, expect, test } from "bun:test"
+import { buildRunMessage } from "../../../../src/kilocode/cli/cmd/run-message"
+
+describe("buildRunMessage", () => {
+  test("preserves shell-bound multi-word positionals via wrap-quote (PR #4979)", () => {
+    expect(buildRunMessage(["hello", "world foo", "bar"], undefined)).toBe('hello "world foo" bar')
+  })
+
+  test("does not quote single-word positionals", () => {
+    expect(buildRunMessage(["hello", "world"], undefined)).toBe("hello world")
+  })
+
+  test("escapes embedded double quotes inside positionals", () => {
+    expect(buildRunMessage(['say "hi"'], undefined)).toBe('"say \\"hi\\""')
+  })
+
+  test("passes args['--'] through verbatim without wrap-quote (#9622)", () => {
+    // `kilo run -- "- Who are you?"` - yargs+populate-- captures the leading-dash
+    // phrase as a single atom in args["--"]. The assembler must NOT wrap it,
+    // because the user typed `--` precisely to opt out of further parsing.
+    expect(buildRunMessage([], ["- Who are you?"])).toBe("- Who are you?")
+  })
+
+  test("does not synthesize quote bytes around dash atoms even when they contain spaces", () => {
+    expect(buildRunMessage([], ["one two", "three"])).toBe("one two three")
+  })
+
+  test("combines positionals and dash args with appropriate quoting per source", () => {
+    expect(buildRunMessage(["pre", "fix arg"], ["raw arg", "tail"])).toBe('pre "fix arg" raw arg tail')
+  })
+
+  test("handles undefined and empty dash args identically", () => {
+    expect(buildRunMessage(["x"], undefined)).toBe("x")
+    expect(buildRunMessage(["x"], [])).toBe("x")
+  })
+})