diff --git a/doc/manual/src/contributing/cli-guideline.md b/doc/manual/src/contributing/cli-guideline.md
index f170e5e8f..b27f7a00c 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/contributing/cli-guideline.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/contributing/cli-guideline.md
@@ -661,8 +661,8 @@ Verbosity levels are:
 
 The default level that the command starts is `ERROR`. The simplest way to
 increase the verbosity by stacking `-v` option (eg: `-vvv == level 3 == INFO`).
-There are also two shortcuts, `--debug` to run in `DEBUG` verbosity level and
-`--quiet` to run in `ERROR` verbosity level.
+Use `--quiet` to decrease verbosity by one level.
+There is one shortcut, `--debug` to run in `DEBUG` verbosity level.
 
 ----------
 
diff --git a/lix/legacy/nix-build.cc b/lix/legacy/nix-build.cc
index 240721539..d9ab74931 100644
--- a/lix/legacy/nix-build.cc
+++ b/lix/legacy/nix-build.cc
@@ -544,6 +544,8 @@ static void main_nix_build(AsyncIoRoot & aio, std::string programName, Strings a
 
         logger->pause();
 
+        printMsg(lvlChatty, "running shell: %s", concatMapStringsSep(" ", args, shellEscape));
+
         execvp(shell->c_str(), argPtrs.data());
 
         throw SysError("executing shell '%s'", *shell);
diff --git a/lix/libstore/build/hook-instance.cc b/lix/libstore/build/hook-instance.cc
index 6b71d2599..325a84591 100644
--- a/lix/libstore/build/hook-instance.cc
+++ b/lix/libstore/build/hook-instance.cc
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ try {
 
     auto [selfRPC, hookRPC] = SocketPair::stream();
 
+    printMsg(lvlChatty, "running build hook: %s", concatMapStringsSep(" ", args, shellEscape));
+
     /* Fork the hook. */
     auto pid = startProcess([&]() {
         if (dup2(fromHook_.writeSide.get(), STDERR_FILENO) == -1)
diff --git a/lix/libstore/ssh.cc b/lix/libstore/ssh.cc
index ab3ec5a20..c314d4211 100644
--- a/lix/libstore/ssh.cc
+++ b/lix/libstore/ssh.cc
@@ -62,6 +62,21 @@ std::unique_ptr<SSH::Connection> SSH::startCommand(const std::string & command)
         resumeLoggerDefer.emplace([&]() { logger->resume(); });
     }
 
+    Strings args;
+
+    // We specifically spawn bash here, to (hopefully) get
+    // reasonably POSIX-y semantics for the things we're about
+    // to do next.
+    if (fakeSSH) {
+        args = {"bash", "-c", command};
+    } else {
+        args = {"ssh", host.c_str(), "-x", "-T"};
+        addCommonSSHOpts(args);
+        args.push_back(command);
+    }
+
+    printMsg(lvlChatty, "running ssh: %s", concatMapStringsSep(" ", args, shellEscape));
+
     conn->sshPid = startProcess([&]() {
         restoreProcessContext();
 
@@ -73,20 +88,8 @@ std::unique_ptr<SSH::Connection> SSH::startCommand(const std::string & command)
         if (dup2(child.get(), STDOUT_FILENO) == -1) {
             throw SysError("duping over stdout");
         }
-        if (logFD != -1 && dup2(logFD, STDERR_FILENO) == -1)
+        if (logFD != -1 && dup2(logFD, STDERR_FILENO) == -1) {
             throw SysError("duping over stderr");
-
-        Strings args;
-
-        // We specifically spawn bash here, to (hopefully) get
-        // reasonably POSIX-y semantics for the things we're about
-        // to do next.
-        if (fakeSSH) {
-            args = { "bash", "-c", command };
-        } else {
-            args = { "ssh", host.c_str(), "-x", "-T" };
-            addCommonSSHOpts(args);
-            args.push_back(command);
         }
 
         execvp(args.begin()->c_str(), stringsToCharPtrs(args).data());
diff --git a/lix/libutil/args.cc b/lix/libutil/args.cc
index 6c58e6821..5560d3bc5 100644
--- a/lix/libutil/args.cc
+++ b/lix/libutil/args.cc
@@ -598,6 +598,11 @@ bool ExternalCommand::processArgs(const Strings & args, bool finish)
 }
 
 void ExternalCommand::run() {
+    printMsg(
+        lvlChatty,
+        "running external command: %s",
+        concatMapStringsSep(" ", externalArgv, shellEscape)
+    );
     execv(absoluteBinaryPath.c_str(), stringsToCharPtrs(externalArgv).data());
 
     throw SysError(errno, "failed to execute external command '%1%'", absoluteBinaryPath);
diff --git a/lix/libutil/processes.cc b/lix/libutil/processes.cc
index d75488651..25f40eb5e 100644
--- a/lix/libutil/processes.cc
+++ b/lix/libutil/processes.cc
@@ -323,6 +323,8 @@ RunningProgram runProgram2(const RunOptions & options)
         );
     }
 
+    printMsg(lvlChatty, "running command: %s", concatMapStringsSep(" ", options.args, shellEscape));
+
     /* Fork. */
     Pid pid{startProcess([&]() {
         if (options.environment)
@@ -414,7 +416,6 @@ RunningProgram runProgram2(const RunOptions & options)
 
     out.writeSide.close();
 
-    debug("Running %s %s", shellEscape(options.program), concatMapStringsSep(" ", options.args, shellEscape));
     return RunningProgram{
         options.program,
         std::move(pid),
diff --git a/lix/nix/edit.cc b/lix/nix/edit.cc
index dcc9170eb..ace8d0029 100644
--- a/lix/nix/edit.cc
+++ b/lix/nix/edit.cc
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@ struct CmdEdit : InstallableCommand
 
         restoreProcessContext();
 
+        printMsg(lvlChatty, "running editor: %s", concatMapStringsSep(" ", args, shellEscape));
+
         execvp(args.front().c_str(), stringsToCharPtrs(args).data());
 
         std::string command;
diff --git a/lix/nix/run.cc b/lix/nix/run.cc
index 9bb929b30..6ba99a9aa 100644
--- a/lix/nix/run.cc
+++ b/lix/nix/run.cc
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@ void runProgramInStore(ref<Store> store,
 
     restoreProcessContext();
 
+    printMsg(
+        lvlChatty, "running command in store: %s", concatMapStringsSep(" ", args, shellEscape)
+    );
+
     /* If this is a diverted store (i.e. its "logical" location
        (typically /nix/store) differs from its "physical" location
        (e.g. /home/eelco/nix/store), then run the command in a