diff --git a/src/app.ts b/src/app.ts
index 2d4cb18..67bd6ef 100644
--- a/src/app.ts
+++ b/src/app.ts
@@ -60,6 +60,9 @@ const routes = buildRouteMap({
 
 export const app = buildApplication(addGlobalFlags(routes), {
   name: CLI_NAME,
+  scanner: {
+    allowArgumentEscapeSequence: true
+  },
   versionInfo: {
     currentVersion: getCLIVersion(),
     getLatestVersion,
diff --git a/src/commands/scratch.ts b/src/commands/scratch.ts
index 20cfcd5..2ed6fe2 100644
--- a/src/commands/scratch.ts
+++ b/src/commands/scratch.ts
@@ -206,14 +206,14 @@ export async function implementation(this: LocalContext, flags: Flags, ...comman
   const hasBinary = command.length > 0;
 
   if (hasQuery && hasBinary) {
-    this.process.stderr.write(chalk.red('Use either --execute/-x or a binary command, not both.\n'));
+    this.process.stderr.write(
+      chalk.red('Use either --execute/-x <sql> or -- <command> [arguments...], not both.\n')
+    );
     this.process.exit(1);
   }
 
   if (!hasQuery && !hasBinary) {
-    this.process.stderr.write(
-      chalk.red("Expected --execute/-x <sql> or a binary command, for example 'xata scratch psql'.\n")
-    );
+    this.process.stderr.write(chalk.red('Expected --execute/-x <sql> or -- <command> [arguments...].\n'));
     this.process.exit(1);
   }
 
@@ -379,8 +379,10 @@ export const ScratchCommand = buildCommand({
     fullDescription:
       'Creates a branch from the parent given, runs what it is asked to, and deletes the branch afterwards, so a query or a migration can be tried against real data without touching an existing branch.',
     customUsage: [
-      { input: '--execute "select count(*) from users"', brief: 'Run a query against a throwaway copy' },
-      { input: 'psql', brief: 'Open a Postgres client on the scratch branch' }
+      { input: '--execute "select count(*) from users"', brief: 'Run SQL with the built-in client' },
+      { input: '-x "select count(*) from users"', brief: 'Run SQL using the short execute flag' },
+      { input: '-- psql -c "select count(*) from users"', brief: 'Run psql with arguments' },
+      { input: '-- npm run migrate', brief: 'Run a database tool against the scratch branch' }
     ]
   },
   parameters: {
@@ -428,7 +430,7 @@ export const ScratchCommand = buildCommand({
       kind: 'array',
       minimum: 0,
       parameter: {
-        brief: 'Binary command to run with scratch database environment variables',
+        brief: 'Binary command to run with scratch database environment variables; pass arguments to the binary after --',
         parse: String,
         placeholder: 'command'
       }
diff --git a/src/commands/scratch.unit.test.ts b/src/commands/scratch.unit.test.ts
index 3de1146..682375f 100644
--- a/src/commands/scratch.unit.test.ts
+++ b/src/commands/scratch.unit.test.ts
@@ -246,11 +246,13 @@ describe('scratch command', () => {
     const binary = path.join(tempDir, 'check-env');
     fs.writeFileSync(
       binary,
-      `#!/usr/bin/env bun\nif (!process.env.DATABASE_URL || !process.env.XATA_DATABASE_URL || !process.env.PGHOST || process.env.PGDATABASE !== 'app') process.exit(6);\nprocess.exit(7);\n`
+      `#!/usr/bin/env bun\nif (!process.env.DATABASE_URL || !process.env.XATA_DATABASE_URL || !process.env.PGHOST || process.env.PGDATABASE !== 'app') process.exit(6);\nif (JSON.stringify(Bun.argv.slice(2)) !== JSON.stringify(['-c', 'SELECT version();', '--profile', 'child', '--debug'])) process.exit(8);\nprocess.exit(7);\n`
     );
     fs.chmodSync(binary, 0o755);
 
-    await expect(implementation.call(context, { json: false }, binary)).rejects.toThrow('exit:7');
+    await expect(
+      implementation.call(context, { json: false }, binary, '-c', 'SELECT version();', '--profile', 'child', '--debug')
+    ).rejects.toThrow('exit:7');
 
     expect(deleteBranch).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
   });
diff --git a/src/lib/global-flags.unit.test.ts b/src/lib/global-flags.unit.test.ts
index d12f5cf..b92ae89 100644
--- a/src/lib/global-flags.unit.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/global-flags.unit.test.ts
@@ -59,6 +59,10 @@ describe('getDebugFlag', () => {
     expect(getDebugFlag(['branch', 'list'])).toBe(false);
   });
 
+  test('does not read a child command flag after --', () => {
+    expect(getDebugFlag(['scratch', '--', 'tool', '--debug'])).toBe(false);
+  });
+
   test('is false for arguments it cannot parse', () => {
     expect(getDebugFlag(['--'])).toBe(false);
   });
diff --git a/src/lib/profile.unit.test.ts b/src/lib/profile.unit.test.ts
index daa8ff3..aaaa973 100644
--- a/src/lib/profile.unit.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/profile.unit.test.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@ describe('getProfileFlag', () => {
     expect(getProfileFlag(['branch', 'list', '--json'])).toBeUndefined();
   });
 
+  test('does not read a child command flag after --', () => {
+    expect(getProfileFlag(['scratch', '--', 'psql', '--profile', 'child'])).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
   test('returns undefined when the flag has no value', () => {
     expect(getProfileFlag(['branch', 'list', '--profile'])).toBeUndefined();
   });
diff --git a/test-binary/e2e/smoke.e2e.test.ts b/test-binary/e2e/smoke.e2e.test.ts
index f191a3f..0194a4b 100644
--- a/test-binary/e2e/smoke.e2e.test.ts
+++ b/test-binary/e2e/smoke.e2e.test.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,27 @@ describe('CLI binary smoke tests', () => {
     expect(result.stdout).toMatch(/branch|project|organization/i);
   });
 
+  test('scratch help shows conventional command forwarding', async () => {
+    const result = await runCli(['scratch', '--help']);
+
+    expect(result.code).toBe(0);
+    expect(result.stdout).toContain('-- psql -c "select count(*) from users"');
+  });
+
+  test('scratch accepts child flags after the argument delimiter', async () => {
+    const result = await runCli([
+      'scratch',
+      '--',
+      'definitely-missing-xata-scratch-binary',
+      '-c',
+      'select 1'
+    ]);
+
+    expect(result.code).toBe(1);
+    expect(result.stderr).toContain('Executable not found: definitely-missing-xata-scratch-binary');
+    expect(result.stderr).not.toContain('No alias registered for -c');
+  });
+
   test('status command works when not initialized', async () => {
     const result = await runCli(['status']);