diff --git a/cli/config.yaml.example b/cli/config.yaml.example
index e6c605095ac..a709e080ed3 100644
--- a/cli/config.yaml.example
+++ b/cli/config.yaml.example
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # You can put this configuration file in the following locations:
 # - $HOME/.ente/config.yaml
 # - config.yaml in the current working directory
-# - $ENTE_CLI_CONFIG_PATH/config.yaml
+# - $ENTE_CLI_CONFIG_DIR/config.yaml
 
 endpoint:
   api: "http://localhost:8080"
diff --git a/cli/docs/selfhost.md b/cli/docs/selfhost.md
index d38f0325a58..b4e7a33d88a 100644
--- a/cli/docs/selfhost.md
+++ b/cli/docs/selfhost.md
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
+
+
 ## Self Hosting
 If you are self-hosting the server, you can still configure CLI  to export data & perform basic admin actions.
 
 To do this, first configure the CLI to point to your server.
-Define a config.yaml and put it either in the same directory as CLI binary or path defined in env variable `ENTE_CLI_CONFIG_PATH`
+Define a config.yaml and put it either in the same directory as CLI binary or path defined in env variable `ENTE_CLI_CONFIG_DIR`
 
 ```yaml
 endpoint:
diff --git a/cli/main.go b/cli/main.go
index 0ea9b7c8339..7b0312485e2 100644
--- a/cli/main.go
+++ b/cli/main.go
@@ -18,29 +18,29 @@ import (
 var AppVersion = "0.2.2"
 
 func main() {
-	cliDBPath, err := GetCLIConfigPath()
+	cliConfigDir, err := GetCLIConfigDir()
 	if secrets.IsRunningInContainer() {
-		cliDBPath = constants.CliDataPath
-		_, err := internal.ValidateDirForWrite(cliDBPath)
+		cliConfigDir = constants.CliDataPath
+		_, err := internal.ValidateDirForWrite(cliConfigDir)
 		if err != nil {
-			log.Fatalf("Please mount a volume to %s\n%v\n", cliDBPath, err)
+			log.Fatalf("Please mount a volume to %s\n%v\n", cliConfigDir, err)
 		}
 	}
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Could not create cli config path\n%v\n", err)
 	}
-	initConfig(cliDBPath)
-	newCliPath := fmt.Sprintf("%s/ente-cli.db", cliDBPath)
-	if !strings.HasPrefix(cliDBPath, "/") {
-		oldCliPath := fmt.Sprintf("%sente-cli.db", cliDBPath)
+	initConfig(cliConfigDir)
+	newCliDBPath := filepath.Join(cliConfigDir, "ente-cli.db")
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(cliConfigDir, "/") {
+		oldCliPath := fmt.Sprintf("%sente-cli.db", cliConfigDir)
 		if _, err := os.Stat(oldCliPath); err == nil {
-			log.Printf("migrating old cli db from %s to %s\n", oldCliPath, newCliPath)
-			if err := os.Rename(oldCliPath, newCliPath); err != nil {
+			log.Printf("migrating old cli db from %s to %s\n", oldCliPath, newCliDBPath)
+			if err := os.Rename(oldCliPath, newCliDBPath); err != nil {
 				log.Fatalf("Could not rename old cli db\n%v\n", err)
 			}
 		}
 	}
-	db, err := pkg.GetDB(newCliPath)
+	db, err := pkg.GetDB(newCliDBPath)
 
 	if err != nil {
 		if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "timeout") {
@@ -85,11 +85,11 @@ func main() {
 	cmd.Execute(&ctrl, AppVersion)
 }
 
-func initConfig(cliConfigPath string) {
-	viper.SetConfigName("config")            // name of config file (without extension)
-	viper.SetConfigType("yaml")              // REQUIRED if the config file does not have the extension in the name
-	viper.AddConfigPath(cliConfigPath + "/") // path to look for the config file in
-	viper.AddConfigPath(".")                 // optionally look for config in the working directory
+func initConfig(cliConfigDir string) {
+	viper.SetConfigName("config")           // name of config file (without extension)
+	viper.SetConfigType("yaml")             // REQUIRED if the config file does not have the extension in the name
+	viper.AddConfigPath(cliConfigDir + "/") // path to look for the config file in
+	viper.AddConfigPath(".")                // optionally look for config in the working directory
 
 	viper.SetDefault("endpoint.api", constants.EnteApiUrl)
 	viper.SetDefault("endpoint.accounts", constants.EnteAccountUrl)
@@ -102,11 +102,19 @@ func initConfig(cliConfigPath string) {
 	}
 }
 
-// GetCLIConfigPath returns the path to the .ente-cli folder and creates it if it doesn't exist.
-func GetCLIConfigPath() (string, error) {
-	if os.Getenv("ENTE_CLI_CONFIG_PATH") != "" {
-		return os.Getenv("ENTE_CLI_CONFIG_PATH"), nil
+// GetCLIConfigDir returns the path to the .ente-cli folder and creates it if it doesn't exist.
+func GetCLIConfigDir() (string, error) {
+	var configDir = os.Getenv("ENTE_CLI_CONFIG_DIR")
+	if configDir == "" {
+		// for backward compatibility, check for ENTE_CLI_CONFIG_PATH
+		configDir = os.Getenv("ENTE_CLI_CONFIG_PATH")
 	}
+	if configDir != "" {
+		// remove trailing slash (for all OS)
+		configDir = strings.TrimSuffix(configDir, string(filepath.Separator))
+		return configDir, nil
+	}
+
 	// Get the user's home directory
 	homeDir, err := os.UserHomeDir()
 	if err != nil {