diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index d8cee0c..0ab0e3c 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -203,6 +203,7 @@ name = "breadarr-shared"
 version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
+ "bread-utils",
  "chrono",
  "reqwest",
  "serde",
diff --git a/breadarr-shared/Cargo.toml b/breadarr-shared/Cargo.toml
index 0018ea6..5900351 100644
--- a/breadarr-shared/Cargo.toml
+++ b/breadarr-shared/Cargo.toml
@@ -9,3 +9,5 @@ anyhow.workspace = true
 toml.workspace = true
 reqwest.workspace = true
 chrono.workspace = true
+# TODO(owner): switch to tag-pinned git dependency once bread-utils is merged and tagged, matching the bread-theme pattern
+bread-utils = { path = "../../bread-ecosystem-fix-worktree/bread-utils" }
diff --git a/breadarr-shared/src/config.rs b/breadarr-shared/src/config.rs
index 64e47b6..1a9928b 100644
--- a/breadarr-shared/src/config.rs
+++ b/breadarr-shared/src/config.rs
@@ -314,10 +314,16 @@ fn config_path() -> PathBuf {
 }
 
 fn expand_home(input: &str) -> PathBuf {
+    // Was: falls through to `PathBuf::from(input)` — a literal, unexpanded
+    // "~/..." string — whenever the `HOME` env var itself isn't set.
+    // PathBuf/std::fs never expand `~`, so that fallback silently produced
+    // a path relative to the current working directory instead of the
+    // user's actual home. Same bug class as breadclip-core/breadpad-shared/
+    // breadmon (see bread_utils::xdg's doc comment); bread_utils::xdg::home_dir
+    // resolves a real home directory (falling back to `/root`, never a
+    // literal tilde) before this ever needs to fall back at all.
     if let Some(stripped) = input.strip_prefix("~/") {
-        if let Ok(home) = env::var("HOME") {
-            return Path::new(&home).join(stripped);
-        }
+        return bread_utils::xdg::home_dir().join(stripped);
     }
     PathBuf::from(input)
 }