diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 137b19f7..08c7e774 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
+## [Unreleased]
+
+### Fixed
+
+- GUI programs launched by Alacritty starting in the background on X11
+
 ## 0.3.3
 
 ### Packaging
diff --git a/alacritty_terminal/src/tty/mod.rs b/alacritty_terminal/src/tty/mod.rs
index c0ac7a31..16ae96ce 100644
--- a/alacritty_terminal/src/tty/mod.rs
+++ b/alacritty_terminal/src/tty/mod.rs
@@ -89,6 +89,9 @@ pub fn setup_env(config: &Config) {
     // Advertise 24-bit color support
     env::set_var("COLORTERM", "truecolor");
 
+    // Prevent child processes from inheriting startup notification env
+    env::remove_var("DESKTOP_STARTUP_ID");
+
     // Set env vars from config
     for (key, value) in config.env.iter() {
         env::set_var(key, value);