diff --git a/plugins/terminal/intellij.terminal.iml b/plugins/terminal/intellij.terminal.iml
index 64469073b938..fbd2d2ca13e6 100644
--- a/plugins/terminal/intellij.terminal.iml
+++ b/plugins/terminal/intellij.terminal.iml
@@ -111,5 +111,7 @@
     <orderEntry type="library" scope="TEST" name="assertJ" level="project" />
     <orderEntry type="module" module-name="intellij.platform.kernel" />
     <orderEntry type="module" module-name="intellij.platform.project" />
+    <orderEntry type="module" module-name="intellij.platform.eel" />
+    <orderEntry type="module" module-name="intellij.platform.eel.provider" />
   </component>
 </module>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/plugins/terminal/resources/META-INF/terminal.xml b/plugins/terminal/resources/META-INF/terminal.xml
index fed2cd572883..d27436d501f4 100644
--- a/plugins/terminal/resources/META-INF/terminal.xml
+++ b/plugins/terminal/resources/META-INF/terminal.xml
@@ -63,6 +63,9 @@
     <registryKey key="terminal.classic.refresh.vfs.on.shell.command.finished" defaultValue="true"
                  description="Refresh VFS when shell commands are finished in the Classic Terminal.
                   May not work 100% reliably as it uses heuristics to determine when command is finished."/>
+    <registryKey key="terminal.use.EelApi" defaultValue="false"
+                 description="Use EelApi to launch a shell process. Launching a local shell works the same as before.
+                  For WSL environments, the shell process in WSL will be launched via IJEnt instead of using wsl.exe."/>
 
     <experimentalFeature id="terminal.shell.command.handling" percentOfUsers="100"/>
     <terminal.shellCommandHandler implementation="org.jetbrains.plugins.terminal.RunAnythingTerminalBridge"/>
diff --git a/plugins/terminal/src/org/jetbrains/plugins/terminal/LocalTerminalDirectRunner.java b/plugins/terminal/src/org/jetbrains/plugins/terminal/LocalTerminalDirectRunner.java
index 3db188e763dc..3d6bf4d9e8e5 100644
--- a/plugins/terminal/src/org/jetbrains/plugins/terminal/LocalTerminalDirectRunner.java
+++ b/plugins/terminal/src/org/jetbrains/plugins/terminal/LocalTerminalDirectRunner.java
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
 import static org.jetbrains.plugins.terminal.LocalBlockTerminalRunner.*;
+import static org.jetbrains.plugins.terminal.TerminalStartupKt.startProcess;
 import static org.jetbrains.plugins.terminal.util.ShellNameUtil.*;
 
 public class LocalTerminalDirectRunner extends AbstractTerminalRunner<PtyProcess> {
@@ -110,21 +111,33 @@ public class LocalTerminalDirectRunner extends AbstractTerminalRunner<PtyProcess
       TerminalUsageLocalStorage.getInstance().recordBlockTerminalUsed();
     }
 
+    Path workingDirPath = null;
+    try {
+      workingDirPath = Path.of(workingDir);
+    }
+    catch (InvalidPathException ignored) {
+    }
     try {
       long startNano = System.nanoTime();
-      PtyProcess process = (PtyProcess)ProcessService.getInstance().startPtyProcess(
-        command,
-        workingDir,
-        envs,
-        LocalPtyOptions.defaults().builder()
-          .initialColumns(initialTermSize != null ? initialTermSize.getColumns() : -1)
-          .initialRows(initialTermSize != null ? initialTermSize.getRows() : -1)
-          .build(),
-        null,
-        false,
-        false,
-        false
-      );
+      PtyProcess process;
+      if (workingDirPath != null && shouldUseEelApi()) {
+        process = startProcess(List.of(command), envs, workingDirPath, Objects.requireNonNull(initialTermSize));
+      }
+      else {
+        process = (PtyProcess)ProcessService.getInstance().startPtyProcess(
+          command,
+          workingDir,
+          envs,
+          LocalPtyOptions.defaults().builder()
+            .initialColumns(initialTermSize != null ? initialTermSize.getColumns() : -1)
+            .initialRows(initialTermSize != null ? initialTermSize.getRows() : -1)
+            .build(),
+          null,
+          false,
+          false,
+          false
+        );
+      }
       LOG.info("Started " + process.getClass().getName() + " in " + TimeoutUtil.getDurationMillis(startNano) + " ms from "
                + stringifyProcessInfo(command, workingDir, initialTermSize, envs, !LOG.isDebugEnabled()));
       return process;
@@ -266,4 +279,7 @@ public class LocalTerminalDirectRunner extends AbstractTerminalRunner<PtyProcess
            || shellName.equals(FISH_NAME) && Registry.is(BLOCK_TERMINAL_FISH_REGISTRY, false);
   }
 
+  private static boolean shouldUseEelApi() {
+    return Registry.is("terminal.use.EelApi", false);
+  }
 }
diff --git a/plugins/terminal/src/org/jetbrains/plugins/terminal/arrangement/ProcessInfoUtil.java b/plugins/terminal/src/org/jetbrains/plugins/terminal/arrangement/ProcessInfoUtil.java
index 4f5d301622c9..ca0d8abbb94d 100644
--- a/plugins/terminal/src/org/jetbrains/plugins/terminal/arrangement/ProcessInfoUtil.java
+++ b/plugins/terminal/src/org/jetbrains/plugins/terminal/arrangement/ProcessInfoUtil.java
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ package org.jetbrains.plugins.terminal.arrangement;
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.Futures;
 import com.intellij.execution.ExecutionException;
 import com.intellij.execution.configurations.GeneralCommandLine;
+import com.intellij.execution.ijent.IjentChildPtyProcessAdapter;
 import com.intellij.execution.process.CapturingProcessRunner;
 import com.intellij.execution.process.OSProcessHandler;
 import com.intellij.execution.process.ProcessOutput;
@@ -38,6 +39,8 @@ public final class ProcessInfoUtil {
   }
 
   private static @Nullable String doGetCwd(@NotNull Process process) throws Exception {
+    // use shell integration instead
+    if (process instanceof IjentChildPtyProcessAdapter) return null;
     if (SystemInfo.isUnix) {
       int pid = (int)process.pid();
       String result = tryGetCwdFastOnUnix(pid);
diff --git a/plugins/terminal/src/org/jetbrains/plugins/terminal/terminalStartup.kt b/plugins/terminal/src/org/jetbrains/plugins/terminal/terminalStartup.kt
index c9b035192c19..293c2e292388 100644
--- a/plugins/terminal/src/org/jetbrains/plugins/terminal/terminalStartup.kt
+++ b/plugins/terminal/src/org/jetbrains/plugins/terminal/terminalStartup.kt
@@ -1,9 +1,24 @@
 // Copyright 2000-2024 JetBrains s.r.o. and contributors. Use of this source code is governed by the Apache 2.0 license.
 package org.jetbrains.plugins.terminal
 
+import com.intellij.execution.wsl.WSLDistribution
+import com.intellij.execution.wsl.WslPath
 import com.intellij.openapi.diagnostic.Logger
 import com.intellij.openapi.diagnostic.logger
+import com.intellij.openapi.progress.runBlockingMaybeCancellable
+import com.intellij.openapi.util.SystemInfo
+import com.intellij.platform.eel.EelApi
+import com.intellij.platform.eel.EelExecApi
+import com.intellij.platform.eel.EelExecApi.ExecuteProcessError
+import com.intellij.platform.eel.EelResult
+import com.intellij.platform.eel.provider.asEelPath
+import com.intellij.platform.eel.provider.getEelDescriptor
+import com.intellij.util.PathUtil
+import com.jediterm.core.util.TermSize
 import com.jediterm.terminal.TtyConnector
+import com.pty4j.PtyProcess
+import org.jetbrains.plugins.terminal.runner.LocalTerminalStartCommandBuilder
+import java.nio.file.Path
 import java.time.Duration
 import java.time.Instant
 
@@ -32,4 +47,87 @@ internal fun logCommonStartupInfo(
            ", time to process created: ${durationBetweenStartupAndConnectorCreated.toMillis()} ms")
 }
 
+@Throws(ErrnoException::class)
+internal fun startProcess(
+  command: List<String>,
+  envs: Map<String, String>,
+  initialWorkingDirectory: Path,
+  initialTermSize: TermSize,
+): PtyProcess {
+  return runBlockingMaybeCancellable {
+    val (eelApi, workingDirectory) = getEelApi(initialWorkingDirectory, command)
+    val remoteCommand = convertCommandToRemote(eelApi, command)
+    doStartProcess(eelApi, remoteCommand, envs, workingDirectory, initialTermSize)
+  }
+}
+
+private suspend fun convertCommandToRemote(eelApi: EelApi, command: List<String>): List<String> {
+  if (isWslCommand(command)) {
+    val shell = eelApi.exec.fetchLoginShellEnvVariables()["SHELL"] ?: "/bin/sh"
+    return listOf(shell, LocalTerminalDirectRunner.LOGIN_CLI_OPTION, LocalTerminalStartCommandBuilder.INTERACTIVE_CLI_OPTION)
+  }
+  return command
+}
+
+private fun isWslCommand(command: List<String>): Boolean {
+  if (SystemInfo.isWindows) {
+    val exePath = command.getOrNull(0) ?: return false
+    val exeFileName = PathUtil.getFileName(exePath)
+    return exeFileName.equals("wsl.exe", true) || exeFileName.equals("wsl", true)
+  }
+  return false
+}
+
+private suspend fun getEelApi(
+  workingDirectory: Path,
+  command: List<String>,
+): Pair<EelApi, Path> {
+  val wslDistribNameFromCommandline = getWslDistributionNameFromCommand(command)
+  if (wslDistribNameFromCommandline != null) {
+    val wslDistribNameFromWorkingDirectory = WslPath.parseWindowsUncPath(workingDirectory.toString())?.distributionId
+    if (wslDistribNameFromCommandline != wslDistribNameFromWorkingDirectory) {
+      val wslRootPath = WSLDistribution(wslDistribNameFromCommandline).getUNCRootPath()
+      val eelApi = wslRootPath.getEelDescriptor().upgrade()
+      val userHome = runCatching { eelApi.exec.fetchLoginShellEnvVariables()["HOME"] }.getOrNull()
+      return eelApi to wslRootPath.resolve(userHome ?: ".")
+    }
+  }
+  return workingDirectory.getEelDescriptor().upgrade() to workingDirectory
+}
+
+private fun getWslDistributionNameFromCommand(command: List<String>): String? {
+  if (isWslCommand(command)) {
+    val distributionOptionName = command.getOrNull(1)
+    if (distributionOptionName == "-d" || distributionOptionName == "--distribution") {
+      return command.getOrNull(2)
+    }
+  }
+  return null
+}
+
+@Throws(ErrnoException::class)
+private suspend fun doStartProcess(
+  eelApi: EelApi,
+  command: List<String>,
+  envs: Map<String, String>,
+  workingDirectory: Path,
+  initialTermSize: TermSize,
+): PtyProcess {
+  // TODO migrate to generated builders in 252 (not available in 251)
+  @Suppress("DEPRECATION")
+  val execOptions = EelExecApi.ExecuteProcessOptions.Builder(command.first())
+    .args(command.takeLast(command.size - 1))
+    .env(envs)
+    .workingDirectory(workingDirectory.asEelPath())
+    .ptyOrStdErrSettings(EelExecApi.Pty(initialTermSize.columns, initialTermSize.rows, true))
+    .build()
+  val processResult = eelApi.exec.execute(execOptions)
+  return when (processResult) {
+    is EelResult.Ok -> processResult.value.convertToJavaProcess() as PtyProcess
+    is EelResult.Error -> throw ErrnoException(processResult.error)
+  }
+}
+
+internal class ErrnoException(val error: ExecuteProcessError): Exception(error.message)
+
 private val log: Logger = logger<AbstractTerminalRunner<*>>()