diff --git a/dendrite b/dendrite
index a42ce71..a53eca9 100755
Binary files a/dendrite and b/dendrite differ
diff --git a/persistence/db_dir.go b/persistence/db_dir.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c9ecfd7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/persistence/db_dir.go
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+package persistence
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+)
+
+func getIndexDBPath(vaultPath string) (string, error) {
+	dir := os.Getenv("XDG_DATA_HOME")
+	if dir == "" {
+		home, err := os.UserHomeDir()
+		if err != nil {
+			return "", err
+		}
+		dir = filepath.Join(home, ".local", "share")
+	}
+
+	return filepath.Join(dir, "dendrite", vaultPath), nil
+}
diff --git a/persistence/db_migrator.go b/persistence/db_migrator.go
index 1ddc700..37da0c3 100644
--- a/persistence/db_migrator.go
+++ b/persistence/db_migrator.go
@@ -13,9 +13,13 @@ import (
 var migrationsFS embed.FS
 
 func InitializeIndex(vaultPath string) (*sql.DB, error) {
-	indexDir := filepath.Join(vaultPath, ".index")
+	indexDir, err := getIndexDBPath(vaultPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		slog.Error("failed to get index directory path", "error", err)
+		return nil, err
+	}
 
-	if err := os.MkdirAll(indexDir, 0755); err != nil {
+	if err = os.MkdirAll(indexDir, 0755); err != nil {
 		slog.Error("failed to create index directory", "error", err)
 		return nil, err
 	}