diff --git a/shell-integration/zsh/kitty-integration b/shell-integration/zsh/kitty-integration
index 92325c68b..12b583491 100644
--- a/shell-integration/zsh/kitty-integration
+++ b/shell-integration/zsh/kitty-integration
@@ -32,10 +32,13 @@ builtin emulate -L zsh -o no_warn_create_global
 # 2: none of the above.
 builtin typeset -gi _ksi_state
 
-# Asks kitty to print $@ to its stdout. This is for debugging.
+# Asks kitty to print $@ to its STDOUT. This is for debugging.
 _ksi_debug_print() {
-    builtin local data
-    data=$(command base64 <<<"${(j: :}@}") || builtin return
+    builtin local data saved
+    saved="$IFS"
+    IFS=" "
+    data=$(command base64 <<< "$*") 
+    IFS="$saved"
     builtin printf '\eP@kitty-print|%s\e\\' "${data//$'\n'}"
 }