diff --git a/src/rocprof_compute_profile/profiler_base.py b/src/rocprof_compute_profile/profiler_base.py
index c7821e6590..90254ba039 100644
--- a/src/rocprof_compute_profile/profiler_base.py
+++ b/src/rocprof_compute_profile/profiler_base.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import glob
 import logging
 import os
 import re
+import shlex
 import shutil
 import time
 from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
@@ -462,7 +463,9 @@ class RocProfCompute_Base:
                 method=self.get_args().pc_sampling_method,
                 interval=self.get_args().pc_sampling_interval,
                 workload_dir=self.get_args().path,
-                appcmd=self.get_args().remaining,
+                appcmd=shlex.split(
+                    self.get_args().remaining
+                ),  # FIXME: the right solution is applying it when argparsing once!
                 rocprofiler_sdk_library_path=self.get_args().rocprofiler_sdk_library_path,
             )
             end_run_prof = time.time()
diff --git a/src/utils/utils.py b/src/utils/utils.py
index 452300fe67..fc8ea686bd 100644
--- a/src/utils/utils.py
+++ b/src/utils/utils.py
@@ -1018,8 +1018,9 @@ def pc_sampling_prof(
             "-o",
             "ps_file",  # todo: sync up with the name from source in 2100_.yaml
             "--",
-            appcmd,
         ]
+        options.extend(appcmd)
+
         success, output = capture_subprocess_output(
             [rocprof_cmd] + options, new_env=os.environ.copy(), profileMode=True
         )