diff --git a/components/supervisor/pkg/supervisor/supervisor.go b/components/supervisor/pkg/supervisor/supervisor.go
index 5ebbfb03f3f330..0ba1edb55385c2 100644
--- a/components/supervisor/pkg/supervisor/supervisor.go
+++ b/components/supervisor/pkg/supervisor/supervisor.go
@@ -1006,6 +1006,11 @@ func buildChildProcEnv(cfg *Config, envvars []string, runGP bool) []string {
 		envs["JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS"] += fmt.Sprintf(" -Xmx%sm", mem)
 	}
 
+	if _, ok := envs["HISTFILE"]; !ok {
+		envs["HISTFILE"] = "/workspace/.gitpod/.shell_history"
+		envs["PROMPT_COMMAND"] = "history -a"
+	}
+
 	var env, envn []string
 	for nme, val := range envs {
 		log.WithField("envvar", nme).Debug("passing environment variable to IDE")
diff --git a/components/supervisor/pkg/supervisor/supervisor_test.go b/components/supervisor/pkg/supervisor/supervisor_test.go
index 911ee832b70f59..961e7a11433f66 100644
--- a/components/supervisor/pkg/supervisor/supervisor_test.go
+++ b/components/supervisor/pkg/supervisor/supervisor_test.go
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ func TestBuildChildProcEnv(t *testing.T) {
 			"SUPERVISOR_ADDR=localhost:8080",
 			"HOME=/home/gitpod",
 			"USER=gitpod",
+			"HISTFILE=/workspace/.gitpod/.shell_history",
+			"PROMPT_COMMAND=history -a",
 		)
 	}
 
@@ -85,16 +87,18 @@ func TestBuildChildProcEnv(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		},
 		{
-			Name:        "ots",
-			Input:       []string{},
-			OTS:         `[{"name":"foo","value":"bar"},{"name":"GITPOD_TOKENS","value":"foobar"}]`,
-			Expectation: []string{"HOME=/home/gitpod", "SUPERVISOR_ADDR=localhost:8080", "USER=gitpod", "foo=bar"},
+			Name:  "ots",
+			Input: []string{},
+			OTS:   `[{"name":"foo","value":"bar"},{"name":"GITPOD_TOKENS","value":"foobar"}]`,
+			Expectation: []string{"HOME=/home/gitpod", "HISTFILE=/workspace/.gitpod/.shell_history",
+				"PROMPT_COMMAND=history -a", "SUPERVISOR_ADDR=localhost:8080", "USER=gitpod", "foo=bar"},
 		},
 		{
-			Name:        "failed ots",
-			Input:       []string{},
-			OTS:         `invalid json`,
-			Expectation: []string{"HOME=/home/gitpod", "SUPERVISOR_ADDR=localhost:8080", "USER=gitpod"},
+			Name:  "failed ots",
+			Input: []string{},
+			OTS:   `invalid json`,
+			Expectation: []string{"HOME=/home/gitpod", "HISTFILE=/workspace/.gitpod/.shell_history",
+				"PROMPT_COMMAND=history -a", "SUPERVISOR_ADDR=localhost:8080", "USER=gitpod"},
 		},
 	}