diff --git a/backend/backup.py b/backend/backup.py
index a221f64..aab1376 100644
--- a/backend/backup.py
+++ b/backend/backup.py
@@ -88,13 +88,14 @@ async def run_backup_task(
         f'echo "=== STEP 1: Creating Hot-Snapshot on Remote VPS ({vps_host}) ==="',
         f'mkdir -p "{remote_stage}/pangolin"',
         f'''
-P_DIR="{p_dir}"
+eval P_DIR="{p_dir}"
+P_DIR="${{P_DIR/#~/$HOME}}"
 if [ ! -d "$P_DIR" ] || [ -z "$(ls -A "$P_DIR" 2>/dev/null)" ]; then
     echo "Notice: Configured path $P_DIR is empty or does not exist."
     echo "Searching VPS for Pangolin Docker compose stack..."
     DETECTED=$(docker inspect --format '{{{{index .Config.Labels "com.docker.compose.project.working_dir"}}}}' $(docker ps -aq --filter "name=pangolin" 2>/dev/null) 2>/dev/null | head -n 1)
     if [ -z "$DETECTED" ] || [ ! -d "$DETECTED" ]; then
-        for candidate in /root/pangolin /opt/pangolin /home/*/pangolin /var/lib/pangolin /srv/pangolin /etc/pangolin; do
+        for candidate in "$HOME/config" "/root/config" "$HOME/pangolin" "/root/pangolin" "$HOME" "/opt/pangolin" /home/*/pangolin /var/lib/pangolin /srv/pangolin /etc/pangolin; do
             if [ -d "$candidate" ] && [ -n "$(ls -A "$candidate" 2>/dev/null)" ]; then
                 DETECTED="$candidate"
                 break
@@ -112,6 +113,14 @@ fi
 echo "--- Staging Pangolin files from $P_DIR ---"
 if [ -d "$P_DIR" ]; then
     rsync -av --exclude="*.db" --exclude="*.db-wal" --exclude="*.db-shm" "$P_DIR/" "{remote_stage}/pangolin/"
+    # If compose or env file lives in parent folder (e.g. ~ when config is ~/config), include them too
+    PARENT_DIR="$(dirname "$P_DIR")"
+    for extra in docker-compose.yml compose.yaml docker-compose.yaml .env; do
+        if [ -f "$PARENT_DIR/$extra" ] && [ ! -f "{remote_stage}/pangolin/$extra" ]; then
+            echo "--- Staging companion $extra from $PARENT_DIR ---"
+            cp "$PARENT_DIR/$extra" "{remote_stage}/pangolin/" 2>/dev/null || true
+        fi
+    done
 fi
 
 echo "--- Performing zero-lock hot-backup of SQLite databases on VPS ---"
diff --git a/backend/pangolin.py b/backend/pangolin.py
index 8bcf679..47f980e 100644
--- a/backend/pangolin.py
+++ b/backend/pangolin.py
@@ -31,11 +31,12 @@ async def get_pangolin_stack_status() -> Dict[str, Any]:
 
     # Query Remote VPS for files, DB, and Docker status
     check_script = f"""
-P_DIR="{p_dir}"
+eval P_DIR="{p_dir}"
+P_DIR="${{P_DIR/#~/$HOME}}"
 if [ ! -d "$P_DIR" ] || [ -z "$(ls -A "$P_DIR" 2>/dev/null)" ]; then
     DETECTED=$(docker inspect --format '{{{{index .Config.Labels \"com.docker.compose.project.working_dir\"}}}}' $(docker ps -aq --filter "name=pangolin" 2>/dev/null) 2>/dev/null | head -n 1)
     if [ -z "$DETECTED" ] || [ ! -d "$DETECTED" ]; then
-        for candidate in /root/pangolin /opt/pangolin /home/*/pangolin /var/lib/pangolin /srv/pangolin /etc/pangolin; do
+        for candidate in "$HOME/config" "/root/config" "$HOME/pangolin" "/root/pangolin" "$HOME" "/opt/pangolin" /home/*/pangolin /var/lib/pangolin /srv/pangolin /etc/pangolin; do
             if [ -d "$candidate" ] && [ -n "$(ls -A "$candidate" 2>/dev/null)" ]; then
                 DETECTED="$candidate"
                 break