diff --git a/builtin/add.c b/builtin/add.c
index c859f66519..20a86a1611 100644
--- a/builtin/add.c
+++ b/builtin/add.c
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 #include "dir.h"
 #include "gettext.h"
 #include "pathspec.h"
-#include "run-command.h"
 #include "object-file.h"
 #include "odb.h"
 #include "odb/transaction.h"
@@ -23,9 +22,9 @@
 #include "diff.h"
 #include "read-cache.h"
 #include "revision.h"
-#include "strvec.h"
 #include "submodule.h"
 #include "add-interactive.h"
+#include "apply.h"
 
 static const char * const builtin_add_usage[] = {
 	N_("git add [<options>] [--] <pathspec>..."),
@@ -187,7 +186,8 @@ static int edit_patch(struct repository *repo,
 		      const char *prefix)
 {
 	char *file = repo_git_path(repo, "ADD_EDIT.patch");
-	struct child_process child = CHILD_PROCESS_INIT;
+	struct apply_state state;
+	const char *apply_argv[2];
 	struct rev_info rev;
 	int out;
 	struct stat st;
@@ -217,11 +217,16 @@ static int edit_patch(struct repository *repo,
 	if (!st.st_size)
 		die(_("empty patch. aborted"));
 
-	child.git_cmd = 1;
-	strvec_pushl(&child.args, "apply", "--recount", "--cached", file,
-		     NULL);
-	if (run_command(&child))
+	apply_argv[0] = file;
+	apply_argv[1] = NULL;
+	if (init_apply_state(&state, repo, NULL))
+		die(_("could not initialize apply state"));
+	state.cached = 1;
+	if (check_apply_state(&state, 0))
+		die(_("could not check apply state"));
+	if (apply_all_patches(&state, 1, apply_argv, APPLY_OPT_RECOUNT))
 		die(_("could not apply '%s'"), file);
+	clear_apply_state(&state);
 
 	unlink(file);
 	free(file);
diff --git a/t/t3702-add-edit.sh b/t/t3702-add-edit.sh
index 8bacacbac6..f628564005 100755
--- a/t/t3702-add-edit.sh
+++ b/t/t3702-add-edit.sh
@@ -124,5 +124,15 @@ test_expect_success 'add -e notices editor failure' '
 	test_must_fail env GIT_EDITOR=false git add -e &&
 	test_expect_code 1 git diff --exit-code
 '
+test_expect_success 'add -e works from a subdirectory' '
+	git reset --hard &&
+	echo change >>file &&
+	mkdir -p subdir &&
+	(
+		cd subdir &&
+		GIT_EDITOR=cat git add -e ../file
+	) &&
+	git diff --cached | grep -q "^+change"
+'
 
 test_done