diff --git a/src/commands/git_handlers.rs b/src/commands/git_handlers.rs
index ef2117e0..7055928c 100644
--- a/src/commands/git_handlers.rs
+++ b/src/commands/git_handlers.rs
@@ -51,6 +51,69 @@ struct CommandHooksContext {
     pre_commit_hook_result: Option<bool>,
 }
 
+/// Return the alias definition for a given command name (if any) by consulting
+/// `git config alias.<name>` with the same global args as the invocation.
+/// Returns `None` if no alias is configured.
+fn get_alias_for_command(global_args: &[String], name: &str) -> Option<String> {
+    // Build: <global_args> + ["config", "--get", format!("alias.{}", name)]
+    let mut args: Vec<String> = Vec::with_capacity(global_args.len() + 4);
+    args.extend(global_args.iter().cloned());
+    args.push("config".to_string());
+    args.push("--get".to_string());
+    args.push(format!("alias.{}", name));
+
+    match Command::new(config::Config::get().git_cmd()).args(&args).output() {
+        Ok(output) if output.status.success() => {
+            let s = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout).trim().to_string();
+            if s.is_empty() { None } else { Some(s) }
+        }
+        _ => None,
+    }
+}
+
+/// Tokenize a git alias definition into argv-like tokens, handling simple
+/// shell-style quotes and backslash escapes similarly to git's split_cmdline.
+/// Returns None on unterminated quotes to avoid unsafe rewrites.
+fn tokenize_alias(definition: &str) -> Option<Vec<String>> {
+    let mut tokens: Vec<String> = Vec::new();
+    let mut current = String::new();
+    let mut in_single = false;
+    let mut in_double = false;
+    let mut chars = definition.chars().peekable();
+
+    while let Some(ch) = chars.next() {
+        match ch {
+            '\'' => {
+                if !in_double { in_single = !in_single; } else { current.push(ch); }
+            }
+            '"' => {
+                if !in_single { in_double = !in_double; } else { current.push(ch); }
+            }
+            '\\' => {
+                if in_single {
+                    // Backslash is literal inside single quotes
+                    current.push('\\');
+                } else {
+                    if let Some(next) = chars.next() { current.push(next); } else { current.push('\\'); }
+                }
+            }
+            c if c.is_whitespace() => {
+                if in_single || in_double {
+                    current.push(c);
+                } else if !current.is_empty() {
+                    tokens.push(current.clone());
+                    current.clear();
+                }
+            }
+            _ => current.push(ch),
+        }
+    }
+
+    if in_single || in_double { return None; }
+    if !current.is_empty() { tokens.push(current); }
+    Some(tokens)
+}
+
 pub fn handle_git(args: &[String]) {
     // If we're being invoked from a shell completion context, bypass git-ai logic
     // and delegate directly to the real git so existing completion scripts work.
@@ -60,11 +123,54 @@ pub fn handle_git(args: &[String]) {
         return;
     }
 
-    let mut command_hooks_context = CommandHooksContext {
-        pre_commit_hook_result: None,
-    };
+    let mut command_hooks_context = CommandHooksContext { pre_commit_hook_result: None };
+
+    // First parse of raw args (may contain an alias as the command token)
+    let initial_parsed = parse_git_cli_args(args);
 
-    let parsed_args = parse_git_cli_args(args);
+    // Single-pass alias expansion: if the command is an alias, expand it once.
+    // For external aliases (starting with '!'), bypass hooks entirely and
+    // delegate to git immediately with the original args.
+    let parsed_args = if let Some(cmd) = initial_parsed.command.as_deref() {
+        if let Some(alias_def) = get_alias_for_command(&initial_parsed.global_args, cmd) {
+            let trimmed = alias_def.trim_start();
+            if trimmed.starts_with('!') {
+                // External command alias: run real git immediately, no hooks.
+                debug_log("Detected external git alias; bypassing hooks and delegating to git");
+                let orig = initial_parsed.to_invocation_vec();
+                let status = proxy_to_git(&orig, false);
+                exit_with_status(status);
+            }
+            // Tokenize alias and build a new argv: globals + [alias tokens] + original command args
+            if let Some(mut alias_tokens) = tokenize_alias(trimmed) {
+                if !alias_tokens.is_empty() {
+                    let mut expanded: Vec<String> = Vec::with_capacity(
+                        initial_parsed.global_args.len()
+                            + usize::from(initial_parsed.saw_end_of_opts)
+                            + alias_tokens.len()
+                            + initial_parsed.command_args.len(),
+                    );
+                    expanded.extend(initial_parsed.global_args.iter().cloned());
+                    if initial_parsed.saw_end_of_opts {
+                        expanded.push("--".to_string());
+                    }
+                    expanded.append(&mut alias_tokens);
+                    expanded.extend(initial_parsed.command_args.iter().cloned());
+                    // Re-parse the expanded argv once; do not attempt to expand again.
+                    parse_git_cli_args(&expanded)
+                } else {
+                    initial_parsed.clone()
+                }
+            } else {
+                // Failed to safely tokenize; fall back to original to avoid incorrect behavior.
+                initial_parsed.clone()
+            }
+        } else {
+            initial_parsed.clone()
+        }
+    } else {
+        initial_parsed.clone()
+    };
     // println!("command: {:?}", parsed_args.command);
     // println!("global_args: {:?}", parsed_args.global_args);
     // println!("command_args: {:?}", parsed_args.command_args);