diff --git a/env.go b/env.go
index de5b8787..992d872f 100644
--- a/env.go
+++ b/env.go
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ var (
 	//go:embed "files/install.sh.tmpl"
 	InstallerTemplateSource string
 
-	// UserStateDir should be passed to Open()/Init() in most cases.
+	// UserStateDir should be passed to OpenEnv()/Init() in most cases.
 	UserStateDir = func() string {
 		// Check if state dir is explicitly set
 		explicit := os.Getenv("HERMIT_STATE_DIR")
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@ type Env struct {
 	configFile      string
 	httpClient      *http.Client
 	scriptSums      []string
+	activated       bool
 
 	// Lazily initialized fields
 	lazyResolver  *manifest.Resolver
@@ -349,6 +350,7 @@ func OpenEnv(
 		ephemeralEnvars: envars.Infer(ephemeral.System()),
 		httpClient:      httpClient,
 		scriptSums:      scriptSums,
+		activated:       os.Getenv("DEACTIVATED_HERMIT") == "",
 	}, nil
 }
 
@@ -783,10 +785,21 @@ func (e *Env) Exec(l *ui.UI, pkg *manifest.Package, binary string, args []string
 		return errors.WithStack(err)
 	}
 
-	installed, err := e.ListInstalled(l)
-	if err != nil {
-		return errors.WithStack(err)
+	var installed []*manifest.Package
+
+	// If we are activated, the parent shell already has
+	// already passed us all necessary environment variables.
+	// This may not be the case if the user manually ran
+	// e.g. ./bin/go
+	// We still need to call e.allEnvarOpsForPackages to ensure
+	// the selected package's env vars take precedence.
+	if !e.activated {
+		installed, err = e.ListInstalled(l)
+		if err != nil {
+			return errors.WithStack(err)
+		}
 	}
+
 	ops := e.allEnvarOpsForPackages(runtimeDeps, pkg, installed...)
 	packageHermitBin, err := e.getPackageRuntimeEnvops(pkg)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -797,9 +810,6 @@ func (e *Env) Exec(l *ui.UI, pkg *manifest.Package, binary string, args []string
 	}
 	env := e.envarsFromOps(true, ops)
 
-	if err != nil {
-		return errors.WithStack(err)
-	}
 	for _, bin := range binaries {
 		if filepath.Base(bin) != filepath.Base(binary) {
 			continue