diff --git a/docs/changelog/2424.feature.rst b/docs/changelog/2424.feature.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4dd122480
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog/2424.feature.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Change shell test activation command to be a list of commands.
diff --git a/tests/unit/activation/conftest.py b/tests/unit/activation/conftest.py
index d9e76d0cd..3b0bdb241 100644
--- a/tests/unit/activation/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/unit/activation/conftest.py
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ def __init__(self, of_class, session, cmd, activate_script, extension):
         self._invoke_script = [cmd]
         self.activate_script = activate_script
         self.extension = extension
-        self.activate_cmd = "source"
+        self.activate_cmd = ["source"]
         self.deactivate = "deactivate"
         self.pydoc_call = "pydoc -w pydoc_test"
         self.script_encoding = "utf-8"
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ def print_prompt(self):
         return NotImplemented
 
     def activate_call(self, script):
-        cmd = self.quote(str(self.activate_cmd))
+        cmd = " ".join([self.quote(str(cmd)) for cmd in self.activate_cmd])
         scr = self.quote(str(script))
         return f"{cmd} {scr}".strip()
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/activation/test_nushell.py b/tests/unit/activation/test_nushell.py
index a778d4975..377233eb2 100644
--- a/tests/unit/activation/test_nushell.py
+++ b/tests/unit/activation/test_nushell.py
@@ -18,4 +18,9 @@ def __init__(self, session):
         def print_prompt(self):
             return r"$env.VIRTUAL_PROMPT"
 
+        def activate_call(self, script):
+            cmd = " ".join([str(cmd) for cmd in self.activate_cmd])
+            scr = self.quote(str(script))
+            return f"{cmd} {scr}".strip()
+
     activation_tester(Nushell)