[Bug]: TagStudio does not respect XDG_CONFIG_HOME

[LikeLakers2]

Checklist

• I am using an up-to-date version.
• I have read the documentation.
• I have searched existing issues.

TagStudio Version

9.6.0

Operating System & Version

Bazzite 44.20260629

Description

TagStudio stores its settings file in $HOME/.config/TagStudio. Since $HOME/.config is the default recommended by the XDG Base Directory Specification for $XDG_CONFIG_HOME, this would imply that TagStudio respects $XDG_CONFIG_HOME.

However, as seen at the definition of the config file path:

TagStudio/src/tagstudio/qt/global_settings.py

Lines 19 to 23 in daaae17

	DEFAULT_GLOBAL_SETTINGS_PATH = (
	Path.home() / "Appdata" / "Roaming" / "TagStudio" / "settings.toml"
	if platform.system() == "Windows"
	else Path.home() / ".config" / "TagStudio" / "settings.toml"
	)

TagStudio only takes into account the home directory, and hardcodes .config/TagStudio into it.

Expected Behavior

I would expect TagStudio would respect $XDG_CONFIG_HOME, and thus store its config file at $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/TagStudio, if $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is set.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Have a TagStudio settings directory at $HOME/.config/TagStudio
2. Set $XDG_CONFIG_HOME to a different directory
3. Open TagStudio and change your settings
4. The new settings are still stored at $HOME/.config/TagStudio

Logs

No response

Additional Info

While testing, I noted that the cache file appears to respect XDG_CONFIG_HOME, per this logger statement:

TagStudio/src/tagstudio/qt/ts_qt.py

Lines 240 to 243 in daaae17

	logger.info(
	"[Cache] Cache File not specified, using default one",
	filename=self.cached_values.fileName(),
	)

For example, if XDG_CONFIG_HOME is set to ~/.new_config_loc:

2026-07-01 06:21:12 [info     ] [Cache] Cache File not specified, using default one filename=/var/home/user/.new_config_loc/TagStudio/TagStudio.ini

[Computerdores]

Expected Behavior

TagStudio would store its config file at $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/TagStudio rather than $HOME/.config/TagStudio, thus respecting the XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable.

Just to be precise: The expected behaviour according to the XDG base directories standard is to use $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/TagStudio if the XDG_CONFIG_HOME env var is set (and not empty), otherwise $HOME/.config/TagStudio would indeed be correct.

[LikeLakers2]

@Computerdores Thanks for the catch, I forgot about that part. Updated the original post to match.

[xarvex]

The best way I see to address this is to stop hand-rolling the paths used for all these things and use a well regarded library like platformdirs, handling all operating system distinctions.

[develOseven]

The best way I see to address this is to stop hand-rolling the paths used for all these things and use a well regarded library like platformdirs, handling all operating system distinctions.

Qt has QStandardPaths and standardLocations(). Also, QSettings for the ones who like registry on windows and weird config files on mac.