diff --git a/process b/process
index eddc515d..f277204a 160000
--- a/process
+++ b/process
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit eddc515d5a86335601697e3b39b1f196e11764dc
+Subproject commit f277204a46e0c09440968b6ee88b641bf0c1e58e
diff --git a/src/babashka/deps.clj b/src/babashka/deps.clj
index d37218f2..328dd1c7 100644
--- a/src/babashka/deps.clj
+++ b/src/babashka/deps.clj
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 (ns babashka.deps
-  (:require [babashka.impl.process :as pp]
-            [babashka.process :as p]
-            [borkdude.deps :as deps]
-            [sci.core :as sci]))
+  (:require
+   [babashka.impl.process :as pp]
+   [babashka.process :as p]
+   [borkdude.deps :as deps]
+   [sci.core :as sci]))
 
 (defn clojure
   "Starts clojure similar to CLI. Use `rlwrap bb` for `clj`-like invocation.
@@ -27,25 +28,27 @@
 
   (-> @(clojure) :exit) starts a clojure REPL, waits for it
   to finish and returns the exit code from the process."
-  ([] (clojure []))
-  ([args] (clojure args nil))
-  ([args opts]
-   (let [opts (merge {:in  :inherit
-                      :out :inherit
-                      :err :inherit
-                      :shutdown p/destroy-tree}
-                     opts)]
-     (binding [*in* @sci/in
-               *out* @sci/out
-               *err* @sci/err
-               deps/*dir* (:dir opts)
-               deps/*env* (:env opts)
-               deps/*extra-env* (:extra-env opts)
-               deps/*process-fn* (fn
-                                   ([cmd] (pp/process cmd opts))
-                                   ([cmd _] (pp/process cmd opts)))
-               deps/*exit-fn* (fn
-                                ([_])
-                                ([_exit-code msg]
-                                 (throw (Exception. msg))))]
-       (apply deps/-main (map str args))))))
+  [& args]
+  (let [{:keys [cmd opts prev]} (p/parse-args args)
+        opts (merge {:in  :inherit
+                     :out :inherit
+                     :err :inherit
+                     :shutdown p/destroy-tree}
+                    opts)]
+    (binding [*in* @sci/in
+              *out* @sci/out
+              *err* @sci/err
+              deps/*dir* (:dir opts)
+              deps/*env* (:env opts)
+              deps/*extra-env* (:extra-env opts)
+              deps/*process-fn* (fn
+                                  ([cmd]
+                                   (pp/process* {:cmd cmd :opts opts :prev prev}))
+                                  ([cmd _]
+                                   (pp/process* {:cmd cmd :opts opts :prev prev})))
+              deps/*exit-fn* (fn
+                               ([_])
+                               ([_exit-code msg]
+                                (throw (Exception. msg))))]
+      ;; (.println System/err (str :args (str/join " " (map str args))))
+      (apply deps/-main (map str cmd)))))
diff --git a/src/babashka/impl/tasks.clj b/src/babashka/impl/tasks.clj
index f2775b8f..f4f1ad6b 100644
--- a/src/babashka/impl/tasks.clj
+++ b/src/babashka/impl/tasks.clj
@@ -59,13 +59,37 @@
    :err :inherit
    :shutdown p/destroy-tree})
 
-(defn shell [& args]
-  (let [{:keys [prev cmd opts]} (p/parse-args args)
-        local-log-level (:log-level opts)
-        opts (merge default-opts opts)]
+(defn shell [cmd & args]
+  (let [[prev cmd args]
+        (if (and (map? cmd)
+                 (:proc cmd))
+          [cmd (first args) (rest args)]
+          [nil cmd args])
+        [opts cmd args]
+        (if (map? cmd)
+          [cmd (first args) (rest args)]
+          [nil cmd args])
+        opts (if-let [o (:out opts)]
+               (if (string? o)
+                 (update opts :out io/file)
+                 opts)
+               opts)
+        opts (if-let [o (:err opts)]
+               (if (string? o)
+                 (update opts :err io/file)
+                 opts)
+               opts)
+        opts (if prev
+               (assoc opts :in nil)
+               opts)
+        cmd (if (.exists (io/file cmd))
+              [cmd]
+              (p/tokenize cmd))
+        cmd (into cmd args)
+        local-log-level (:log-level opts)]
     (sci/binding [log-level (or local-log-level @log-level)]
-      (apply log-info args)
-      (handle-non-zero (pp/process* {:opts opts :cmd cmd :prev prev}) opts))))
+      (apply log-info cmd)
+      (handle-non-zero (pp/process prev cmd (merge default-opts opts)) opts))))
 
 (defn clojure [cmd & args]
   (let [[opts cmd args]
diff --git a/test/babashka/deps_test.clj b/test/babashka/deps_test.clj
index d3edade2..3b86ff50 100644
--- a/test/babashka/deps_test.clj
+++ b/test/babashka/deps_test.clj
@@ -67,6 +67,14 @@ true
     (p/check)
     :out)
 "))))
+  (testing "new syntax"
+    (is (= "6\n" (test-utils/normalize (bb "
+(require '[babashka.deps :as deps])
+(require '[babashka.process :as p])
+(-> (babashka.deps/clojure {:out :string} \"-M\" \"-e\" \"(+ 1 2 3)\")
+    (p/check)
+    :out)
+")))))
   (when-not test-utils/native?
     (is (thrown-with-msg? Exception #"Option changed" (bb "
 (require '[babashka.deps :as deps])