diff --git a/src/apprt/gtk/ipc/new_window.zig b/src/apprt/gtk/ipc/new_window.zig
index df657beea..d9bbad426 100644
--- a/src/apprt/gtk/ipc/new_window.zig
+++ b/src/apprt/gtk/ipc/new_window.zig
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 const std = @import("std");
+const builtin = @import("builtin");
 const Allocator = std.mem.Allocator;
 
 const gio = @import("gio");
@@ -8,13 +9,13 @@ const apprt = @import("../../../apprt.zig");
 // Use a D-Bus method call to open a new window on GTK.
 // See: https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/GLib/GApplication/DBusAPI
 //
-// `ghostty +new-window --release` is equivalent to the following command:
+// `ghostty +new-window` is equivalent to the following command (on a release build):
 //
 // ```
 // gdbus call --session --dest com.mitchellh.ghostty --object-path /com/mitchellh/ghostty --method org.gtk.Actions.Activate new-window [] []
 // ```
 //
-// `ghostty +new-window --release -e echo hello` would be equivalent to the following command:
+// `ghostty +new-window -e echo hello` would be equivalent to the following command (on a release build):
 //
 // ```
 // gdbus call --session --dest com.mitchellh.ghostty --object-path /com/mitchellh/ghostty --method org.gtk.Actions.Activate new-window-command '[<@as ["echo" "hello"]>]' []
@@ -22,48 +23,23 @@ const apprt = @import("../../../apprt.zig");
 pub fn openNewWindow(alloc: Allocator, target: apprt.ipc.Target, value: apprt.ipc.Action.NewWindow) (Allocator.Error || std.posix.WriteError || apprt.ipc.Errors)!bool {
     const stderr = std.io.getStdErr().writer();
 
-    if (value.arguments.len > 256) {
-        try stderr.print("The new window IPC supports at most 256 arguments.\n", .{});
-        return error.IPCFailed;
-    }
-
     // Get the appropriate bus name and object path for contacting the
     // Ghostty instance we're interested in.
-    const bus_name: [:0]const u8, const object_path: [:0]const u8 = result: {
-        switch (target) {
-            .class => |class| {
-                // Force the usage of the class specified on the CLI to determine the
-                // bus name and object path.
-                const object_path = try std.fmt.allocPrintZ(alloc, "/{s}", .{class});
+    const bus_name: [:0]const u8, const object_path: [:0]const u8 = switch (target) {
+        .class => |class| result: {
+            // Force the usage of the class specified on the CLI to determine the
+            // bus name and object path.
+            const object_path = try std.fmt.allocPrintZ(alloc, "/{s}", .{class});
 
-                std.mem.replaceScalar(u8, object_path, '.', '/');
-                std.mem.replaceScalar(u8, object_path, '-', '_');
+            std.mem.replaceScalar(u8, object_path, '.', '/');
+            std.mem.replaceScalar(u8, object_path, '-', '_');
 
-                break :result .{ class, object_path };
-            },
-            .release => {
-                // Force the usage of the release bus name and object path.
-                break :result .{ "com.mitchellh.ghostty", "/com/mitchellh/ghostty" };
-            },
-            .debug => {
-                // Force the usage of the debug bus name and object path.
-                break :result .{ "com.mitchellh.ghostty-debug", "/com/mitchellh/ghostty_debug" };
-            },
-            .detect => {
-                // If there is a `GHOSTTY_CLASS` environment variable, use that as the basis
-                // for the bus name and object path.
-                if (std.posix.getenv("GHOSTTY_CLASS")) |class| {
-                    const object_path = try std.fmt.allocPrintZ(alloc, "/{s}", .{class});
-
-                    std.mem.replaceScalar(u8, object_path, '.', '/');
-                    std.mem.replaceScalar(u8, object_path, '-', '_');
-
-                    break :result .{ class, object_path };
-                }
-                // Otherwise fall back to the release bus name and object path.
-                break :result .{ "com.mitchellh.ghostty", "/com/mitchellh/ghostty" };
-            },
-        }
+            break :result .{ class, object_path };
+        },
+        .detect => switch (builtin.mode) {
+            .Debug, .ReleaseSafe => .{ "com.mitchellh.ghostty-debug", "/com/mitchellh/ghostty_debug" },
+            .ReleaseFast, .ReleaseSmall => .{ "com.mitchellh.ghostty", "/com/mitchellh/ghostty" },
+        },
     };
 
     if (gio.Application.idIsValid(bus_name.ptr) == 0) {
@@ -107,7 +83,7 @@ pub fn openNewWindow(alloc: Allocator, target: apprt.ipc.Target, value: apprt.ip
         errdefer builder.unref();
 
         // action
-        if (value.arguments.len == 0) {
+        if (value.arguments == null) {
             builder.add("s", "new-window");
         } else {
             builder.add("s", "new-window-command");
@@ -121,7 +97,7 @@ pub fn openNewWindow(alloc: Allocator, target: apprt.ipc.Target, value: apprt.ip
             var parameters: glib.VariantBuilder = undefined;
             parameters.init(av);
 
-            if (value.arguments.len > 0) {
+            if (value.arguments) |arguments| {
                 // If `-e` was specified on the command line, the first
                 // parameter is an array of strings that contain the arguments
                 // that came after `-e`, which will be interpreted as a command
@@ -133,7 +109,7 @@ pub fn openNewWindow(alloc: Allocator, target: apprt.ipc.Target, value: apprt.ip
                     var command: glib.VariantBuilder = undefined;
                     command.init(as);
 
-                    for (value.arguments) |argument| {
+                    for (arguments) |argument| {
                         command.add("s", argument.ptr);
                     }
 
diff --git a/src/apprt/ipc.zig b/src/apprt/ipc.zig
index 359381b08..76f6cb5df 100644
--- a/src/apprt/ipc.zig
+++ b/src/apprt/ipc.zig
@@ -9,12 +9,6 @@ pub const Errors = error{
 };
 
 pub const Target = union(Key) {
-    /// Open up a new window in a release instance of Ghostty.
-    release,
-
-    /// Open up a new window in a debug instance of Ghostty.
-    debug,
-
     /// Open up a new window in a custom instance of Ghostty.
     class: [:0]const u8,
 
@@ -23,16 +17,12 @@ pub const Target = union(Key) {
 
     // Sync with: ghostty_ipc_target_tag_e
     pub const Key = enum(c_int) {
-        release,
-        debug,
         class,
         detect,
     };
 
     // Sync with: ghostty_ipc_target_u
     pub const CValue = extern union {
-        release: void,
-        debug: void,
         class: [*:0]const u8,
         detect: void,
     };
@@ -78,27 +68,32 @@ pub const Action = union(enum) {
     new_window: NewWindow,
 
     pub const NewWindow = struct {
-        arguments: [][:0]const u8,
+        arguments: ?[][:0]const u8,
 
         pub const C = extern struct {
             /// null terminated list of arguments
-            arguments: [*]?[*:0]const u8,
+            /// it will be null itself if there are no arguments
+            arguments: ?[*]?[*:0]const u8,
 
             pub fn deinit(self: *NewWindow.C, alloc: Allocator) void {
-                alloc.free(self.arguments);
+                if (self.arguments) |arguments| alloc.free(arguments);
             }
         };
 
         pub fn cval(self: *NewWindow, alloc: Allocator) Allocator.Error!NewWindow.C {
             var result: NewWindow.C = undefined;
 
-            result.arguments = try alloc.alloc([*:0]const u8, self.arguments.len + 1);
+            if (self.arguments) |arguments| {
+                result.arguments = try alloc.alloc([*:0]const u8, arguments.len + 1);
 
-            for (self.arguments, 0..) |argument, i|
-                result.arguments[i] = argument.ptr;
+                for (arguments, 0..) |argument, i|
+                    result.arguments[i] = argument.ptr;
 
-            // add null terminator
-            result.arguments[self.arguments.len] = null;
+                // add null terminator
+                result.arguments[arguments.len] = null;
+            } else {
+                result.arguments = null;
+            }
 
             return result;
         }
diff --git a/src/cli/args.zig b/src/cli/args.zig
index 1af74df69..0ff3dc047 100644
--- a/src/cli/args.zig
+++ b/src/cli/args.zig
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ pub fn parse(
 
             // The error set is dependent on comptime T, so we always add
             // an extra error so we can have the "else" below.
-            const ErrSet = @TypeOf(err) || error{ Unknown, OutOfMemory };
+            const ErrSet = @TypeOf(err) || error{ Unknown, OutOfMemory } || Error;
             const message: [:0]const u8 = switch (@as(ErrSet, @errorCast(err))) {
                 // OOM is not recoverable since we need to allocate to
                 // track more error messages.
diff --git a/src/cli/new_window.zig b/src/cli/new_window.zig
index b81dc0880..995c8b2f0 100644
--- a/src/cli/new_window.zig
+++ b/src/cli/new_window.zig
@@ -10,22 +10,12 @@ pub const Options = struct {
     /// This is set by the CLI parser for deinit.
     _arena: ?ArenaAllocator = null,
 
-    /// If `true`, open up a new window in a release instance of Ghostty.
-    release: bool = false,
-
-    /// If `true`, open up a new window in a debug instance of Ghostty.
-    debug: bool = false,
-
-    /// If set, open up a new window in a custom instance of Ghostty. Takes
-    /// precedence over `--debug`.
+    /// If set, open up a new window in a custom instance of Ghostty.
     class: ?[:0]const u8 = null,
 
-    /// Set to `true` if `-e` was found on the command line.
-    _command: bool = false,
-
     /// If `-e` is found in the arguments, this will contain all of the
     /// arguments to pass to Ghostty as the command.
-    _arguments: std.ArrayListUnmanaged([:0]const u8) = .empty,
+    _arguments: ?[][:0]const u8 = null,
 
     /// Enable arg parsing diagnostics so that we don't get an error if
     /// there is a "normal" config setting on the cli.
@@ -36,13 +26,19 @@ pub const Options = struct {
         // If it's not `-e` continue with the standard argument parsning.
         if (!std.mem.eql(u8, arg, "-e")) return true;
 
-        self._command = true;
+        var arguments: std.ArrayListUnmanaged([:0]const u8) = .empty;
+        errdefer {
+            for (arguments.items) |argument| alloc.free(argument);
+            arguments.deinit(alloc);
+        }
 
         // Otherwise gather up the rest of the arguments to use as the command.
         while (iter.next()) |param| {
-            try self._arguments.append(alloc, try alloc.dupeZ(u8, param));
+            try arguments.append(alloc, try alloc.dupeZ(u8, param));
         }
 
+        self._arguments = try arguments.toOwnedSlice(alloc);
+
         return false;
     }
 
@@ -61,10 +57,11 @@ pub const Options = struct {
 /// The `new-window` will use native platform IPC to open up a new window in a
 /// running instance of Ghostty.
 ///
-/// If none of `--release`, `--debug`, and `--class` flags are not set, the
-/// `new-window` command will try and find the class of the running Ghostty
-/// instance in the `GHOSTTY_CLASS` environment variable. If this environment
-/// variable is not set, a release instance of Ghostty will be opened.
+/// If the `--class` flag is not set, the `new-window` command will try and
+/// connect to a running instance of Ghostty based on what optimizations the
+/// Ghostty CLI was compiled with. Otherwise the `new-window` command will try
+/// and contact a running Ghostty instance that was configured with the same
+/// `class` as was given on the command line.
 ///
 /// If the `-e` flag is included on the command line, any arguments that follow
 /// will be sent to the running Ghostty instance and used as the command to run
@@ -92,14 +89,8 @@ pub const Options = struct {
 ///
 /// Flags:
 ///
-///   * `--release`:  If `true`, force opening up a new window in a release instance of
-///     Ghostty.
-///
-///   * `--debug`:  If `true`, force opening up a new window in a debug instance of
-///     Ghostty.
-///
-///   * `--class=<class>`: If set, open up a new window in a custom instance of Ghostty. The
-///     class must be a valid GTK application ID.
+///   * `--class=<class>`: If set, open up a new window in a custom instance of
+///     Ghostty. The class must be a valid GTK application ID.
 ///
 ///   * `-e`: Any arguments after this will be interpreted as a command to
 ///     execute inside the new window instead of the default command.
@@ -145,23 +136,11 @@ fn runArgs(alloc_gpa: Allocator, argsIter: anytype) !u8 {
         if (exit) return 1;
     }
 
-    if (opts._command and opts._arguments.items.len == 0) {
-        try stderr.print("The -e flag was specified on the command line, but no other arguments were found.\n", .{});
-        return 1;
-    }
-    if (opts._command and opts._arguments.items.len > 256) {
-        try stderr.print("The -e flag supports at most 256 arguments.\n", .{});
-        return 1;
-    }
-
-    var count: usize = 0;
-    if (opts.release) count += 1;
-    if (opts.debug) count += 1;
-    if (opts.class) |_| count += 1;
-
-    if (count > 1) {
-        try stderr.print("The --release, --debug, and --class flags are mutually exclusive, only one may be specified at a time.\n", .{});
-        return 1;
+    if (opts._arguments) |arguments| {
+        if (arguments.len == 0) {
+            try stderr.print("The -e flag was specified on the command line, but no other arguments were found.\n", .{});
+            return 1;
+        }
     }
 
     var arena = ArenaAllocator.init(alloc_gpa);
@@ -170,15 +149,10 @@ fn runArgs(alloc_gpa: Allocator, argsIter: anytype) !u8 {
 
     if (apprt.IPC.sendIPC(
         alloc,
-        target: {
-            if (opts.class) |class| break :target .{ .class = class };
-            if (opts.release) break :target .release;
-            if (opts.debug) break :target .debug;
-            break :target .detect;
-        },
+        if (opts.class) |class| .{ .class = class } else .detect,
         .new_window,
         .{
-            .arguments = opts._arguments.items,
+            .arguments = opts._arguments,
         },
     ) catch |err| switch (err) {
         error.IPCFailed => {