diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 7e5f436bbf..8750970570 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -195,6 +195,7 @@ reedline = { workspace = true, features = ["bashisms", "sqlite"] }
 
 crossterm = { workspace = true }
 ctrlc = { workspace = true }
+dirs-next = { workspace = true }
 log = { workspace = true }
 miette = { workspace = true, features = ["fancy-no-backtrace", "fancy"] }
 mimalloc = { version = "0.1.42", default-features = false, optional = true }
diff --git a/crates/nu-path/src/helpers.rs b/crates/nu-path/src/helpers.rs
index eac944c65a..5b389410e4 100644
--- a/crates/nu-path/src/helpers.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-path/src/helpers.rs
@@ -6,26 +6,36 @@ pub fn home_dir() -> Option<PathBuf> {
     dirs_next::home_dir()
 }
 
+/// Return the data directory for the current platform or XDG_DATA_HOME if specified.
 pub fn data_dir() -> Option<PathBuf> {
-    dirs_next::data_dir()
+    match std::env::var("XDG_DATA_HOME").map(PathBuf::from) {
+        Ok(xdg_data) if xdg_data.is_absolute() => Some(canonicalize(&xdg_data).unwrap_or(xdg_data)),
+        _ => get_canonicalized_path(dirs_next::data_dir()),
+    }
 }
 
+/// Return the cache directory for the current platform or XDG_CACHE_HOME if specified.
 pub fn cache_dir() -> Option<PathBuf> {
-    dirs_next::cache_dir()
+    match std::env::var("XDG_CACHE_HOME").map(PathBuf::from) {
+        Ok(xdg_cache) if xdg_cache.is_absolute() => {
+            Some(canonicalize(&xdg_cache).unwrap_or(xdg_cache))
+        }
+        _ => get_canonicalized_path(dirs_next::cache_dir()),
+    }
 }
 
+/// Return the config directory for the current platform or XDG_CONFIG_HOME if specified.
 pub fn config_dir() -> Option<PathBuf> {
     match std::env::var("XDG_CONFIG_HOME").map(PathBuf::from) {
         Ok(xdg_config) if xdg_config.is_absolute() => {
             Some(canonicalize(&xdg_config).unwrap_or(xdg_config))
         }
-        _ => config_dir_old(),
+        _ => get_canonicalized_path(dirs_next::config_dir()),
     }
 }
 
-/// Get the old default config directory. Outside of Linux, this will ignore `XDG_CONFIG_HOME`
-pub fn config_dir_old() -> Option<PathBuf> {
-    let path = dirs_next::config_dir()?;
+pub fn get_canonicalized_path(path: Option<PathBuf>) -> Option<PathBuf> {
+    let path = path?;
     Some(canonicalize(&path).unwrap_or(path))
 }
 
diff --git a/crates/nu-path/src/lib.rs b/crates/nu-path/src/lib.rs
index b911ba9317..13640acd2f 100644
--- a/crates/nu-path/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-path/src/lib.rs
@@ -8,6 +8,6 @@ mod trailing_slash;
 
 pub use components::components;
 pub use expansions::{canonicalize_with, expand_path_with, expand_to_real_path, locate_in_dirs};
-pub use helpers::{cache_dir, config_dir, config_dir_old, data_dir, home_dir};
+pub use helpers::{cache_dir, config_dir, data_dir, get_canonicalized_path, home_dir};
 pub use tilde::expand_tilde;
 pub use trailing_slash::{has_trailing_slash, strip_trailing_slash};
diff --git a/crates/nu-utils/src/sample_config/default_env.nu b/crates/nu-utils/src/sample_config/default_env.nu
index 02dd6cd358..effe76c98a 100644
--- a/crates/nu-utils/src/sample_config/default_env.nu
+++ b/crates/nu-utils/src/sample_config/default_env.nu
@@ -78,7 +78,6 @@ $env.ENV_CONVERSIONS = {
 $env.NU_LIB_DIRS = [
     ($nu.default-config-dir | path join 'scripts') # add <nushell-config-dir>/scripts
     ($nu.data-dir | path join 'completions') # default home for nushell completions
-    ($nu.cache-dir) # default home for nushell cache data, not used atm
 ]
 
 # Directories to search for plugin binaries when calling register
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 724388c11a..6754ab0e38 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -104,7 +104,9 @@ fn main() -> Result<()> {
                         default: nushell_config_path.display().to_string(),
                     },
                 );
-            } else if let Some(old_config) = nu_path::config_dir_old().map(|p| p.join("nushell")) {
+            } else if let Some(old_config) =
+                nu_path::get_canonicalized_path(dirs_next::config_dir()).map(|p| p.join("nushell"))
+            {
                 let xdg_config_empty = nushell_config_path
                     .read_dir()
                     .map_or(true, |mut dir| dir.next().is_none());