diff --git a/fish-rust/build.rs b/fish-rust/build.rs
index 76b14d351..fd2383b80 100644
--- a/fish-rust/build.rs
+++ b/fish-rust/build.rs
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ fn main() -> miette::Result<()> {
         "src/future_feature_flags.rs",
         "src/highlight.rs",
         "src/job_group.rs",
+        "src/null_terminated_array.rs",
         "src/parse_constants.rs",
         "src/parse_tree.rs",
         "src/parse_util.rs",
diff --git a/fish-rust/src/null_terminated_array.rs b/fish-rust/src/null_terminated_array.rs
index e44d58c0f..ee5a7d336 100644
--- a/fish-rust/src/null_terminated_array.rs
+++ b/fish-rust/src/null_terminated_array.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ use std::ffi::{c_char, CStr, CString};
 use std::marker::PhantomData;
 use std::pin::Pin;
 use std::ptr;
+use std::sync::Arc;
 
 pub trait NulTerminatedString {
     type CharType: Copy;
@@ -21,9 +22,6 @@ impl NulTerminatedString for CStr {
 /// This supports the null-terminated array of NUL-terminated strings consumed by exec.
 /// Given a list of strings, construct a vector of pointers to those strings contents.
 /// This is used for building null-terminated arrays of null-terminated strings.
-/// *Important*: the vector stores pointers into the interior of the input strings, which may be
-/// subject to the small-string optimization. This means that pointers will be left dangling if any
-/// input string is deallocated *or moved*. This class should only be used in transient calls.
 pub struct NullTerminatedArray<'p, T: NulTerminatedString + ?Sized> {
     pointers: Vec<*const T::CharType>,
     _phantom: PhantomData<&'p T>,
@@ -100,6 +98,53 @@ pub fn null_terminated_array_length<T>(mut arr: *const *const T) -> usize {
     len
 }
 
+/// FFI bits.
+/// We often work in Arc<OwningNullTerminatedArray>.
+/// Expose this to C++.
+pub struct OwningNullTerminatedArrayRefFFI(pub Arc<OwningNullTerminatedArray>);
+impl OwningNullTerminatedArrayRefFFI {
+    fn get(&self) -> *mut *const c_char {
+        self.0.get()
+    }
+}
+
+unsafe impl cxx::ExternType for OwningNullTerminatedArrayRefFFI {
+    type Id = cxx::type_id!("OwningNullTerminatedArrayRefFFI");
+    type Kind = cxx::kind::Opaque;
+}
+
+/// Convert a CxxString to a CString, truncating at the first NUL.
+use cxx::{CxxString, CxxVector};
+fn cxxstring_to_cstring(s: &CxxString) -> CString {
+    let bytes: &[u8] = s.as_bytes();
+    let nul_pos = bytes.iter().position(|&b| b == 0);
+    let slice = &bytes[..nul_pos.unwrap_or(bytes.len())];
+    CString::new(slice).unwrap()
+}
+
+fn new_owning_null_terminated_array_ffi(
+    strs: &CxxVector<CxxString>,
+) -> Box<OwningNullTerminatedArrayRefFFI> {
+    let cstrs = strs.iter().map(cxxstring_to_cstring).collect();
+    Box::new(OwningNullTerminatedArrayRefFFI(Arc::new(
+        OwningNullTerminatedArray::new(cstrs),
+    )))
+}
+
+#[cxx::bridge]
+mod null_terminated_array_ffi {
+    extern "Rust" {
+        type OwningNullTerminatedArrayRefFFI;
+
+        fn get(&self) -> *mut *const c_char;
+
+        #[cxx_name = "new_owning_null_terminated_array"]
+        fn new_owning_null_terminated_array_ffi(
+            strs: &CxxVector<CxxString>,
+        ) -> Box<OwningNullTerminatedArrayRefFFI>;
+    }
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn test_null_terminated_array_length() {
     let arr = [&1, &2, &3, std::ptr::null()];
diff --git a/src/env.h b/src/env.h
index e1b1d5334..afb53e2e7 100644
--- a/src/env.h
+++ b/src/env.h
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 #include "cxx.h"
 #include "maybe.h"
 
-class owning_null_terminated_array_t;
+struct owning_null_terminated_array_t;
 
 extern size_t read_byte_limit;
 extern bool curses_initialized;
diff --git a/src/null_terminated_array.cpp b/src/null_terminated_array.cpp
index d119e7e4e..2107a6aa8 100644
--- a/src/null_terminated_array.cpp
+++ b/src/null_terminated_array.cpp
@@ -8,3 +8,12 @@ std::vector<std::string> wide_string_list_to_narrow(const std::vector<wcstring>
     }
     return res;
 }
+
+const char **owning_null_terminated_array_t::get() { return impl_->get(); }
+
+owning_null_terminated_array_t::owning_null_terminated_array_t(std::vector<std::string> &&strings)
+    : impl_(new_owning_null_terminated_array(strings)) {}
+
+owning_null_terminated_array_t::owning_null_terminated_array_t(
+    rust::Box<OwningNullTerminatedArrayRefFFI> impl)
+    : impl_(std::move(impl)) {}
diff --git a/src/null_terminated_array.h b/src/null_terminated_array.h
index 0d094bc93..71a17af24 100644
--- a/src/null_terminated_array.h
+++ b/src/null_terminated_array.h
@@ -10,6 +10,12 @@
 #include <vector>
 
 #include "common.h"
+#include "cxx.h"
+
+struct OwningNullTerminatedArrayRefFFI;
+#if INCLUDE_RUST_HEADERS
+#include "null_terminated_array.rs.h"
+#endif
 
 /// This supports the null-terminated array of NUL-terminated strings consumed by exec.
 /// Given a list of strings, construct a vector of pointers to those strings contents.
@@ -46,18 +52,19 @@ class null_terminated_array_t : noncopyable_t, nonmovable_t {
 /// This is useful for persisted null-terminated arrays, e.g. the exported environment variable
 /// list. This assumes char, since we don't need this for wchar_t.
 /// Note this class is not movable or copyable as it embeds a null_terminated_array_t.
-class owning_null_terminated_array_t {
+struct owning_null_terminated_array_t {
    public:
     // Access the null-terminated array of nul-terminated strings, appropriate for execv().
-    const char **get() { return pointers_.get(); }
+    const char **get();
 
     // Construct, taking ownership of a list of strings.
-    explicit owning_null_terminated_array_t(std::vector<std::string> &&strings)
-        : strings_(std::move(strings)), pointers_(strings_) {}
+    explicit owning_null_terminated_array_t(std::vector<std::string> &&strings);
+
+    // Construct from the FFI side.
+    explicit owning_null_terminated_array_t(rust::Box<OwningNullTerminatedArrayRefFFI> impl);
 
    private:
-    const std::vector<std::string> strings_;
-    null_terminated_array_t<char> pointers_;
+    const rust::Box<OwningNullTerminatedArrayRefFFI> impl_;
 };
 
 /// Helper to convert a list of wcstring to a list of std::string.