diff --git a/.gitconfig b/.gitconfig
index 094929e..6cb0d07 100644
--- a/.gitconfig
+++ b/.gitconfig
@@ -1,11 +1,9 @@
 # run `grep -Pv "^#" .gitconfig >> .git/config` to append the merge config to your repo file :)
 # run `git mergetool --tool=sops-mergetool <path to secret>/secrets.yaml` to use this once configured
-# if for whatever reason the below doesn't work, try modifying the mergetool command as below
-#   find: $(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/utils/sops-mergetool.sh
-#   replace: ./utils/sops-mergetool.sh
+# the command below intentionally avoids nested shell quoting because git config parsing is strict
 [mergetool "sops-mergetool"]
-	cmd = bash -c "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/utils/sops-mergetool.sh \"\$BASE\" \"\$LOCAL\" \"\$REMOTE\" \"\$MERGED\""
+	cmd = $(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/utils/sops-mergetool.sh $BASE $LOCAL $REMOTE $MERGED
 [merge]
 	tool = nvimdiff
 [mergetool "nvimdiff"]
-	layout = MERGED
+	layout = (LOCAL,BASE,REMOTE)/MERGED