diff --git a/share/kak/kakrc b/share/kak/kakrc
index 7a9f1692..f8e4415c 100644
--- a/share/kak/kakrc
+++ b/share/kak/kakrc
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 def -params 1 -docstring "colorscheme <name>: enable named colorscheme" \
   -shell-candidates %{
-      localconfdir=${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-${HOME}/.config}/kak
-      for col in ${kak_runtime}/colors/*.kak ${localconfdir}/colors/*.kak; do
+      for col in ${kak_runtime}/colors/*.kak ${kak_config}/colors/*.kak; do
           candidate=$(basename "${col}" .kak)
           case ${candidate} in
              \**) ;;
@@ -10,10 +9,9 @@ def -params 1 -docstring "colorscheme <name>: enable named colorscheme" \
       done
   } \
   colorscheme %{ %sh{
-    localconfdir=${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-${HOME}/.config}/kak
     if [ $# -eq 1 ]; then
-        if [ -f "${localconfdir}/colors/$1.kak" ];then
-            echo "source '${localconfdir}/colors/$1.kak'"
+        if [ -f "${kak_config}/colors/$1.kak" ];then
+            echo "source '${kak_config}/colors/$1.kak'"
         else
             echo "source '${kak_runtime}/colors/$1.kak'"
         fi
@@ -28,12 +26,10 @@ def -params 1 -docstring "colorscheme <name>: enable named colorscheme" \
             -exec printf 'try %%{ source "%s" } catch %%{ echo -debug Autoload: could not load "%s" }\n' '{}' '{}' \;
     }
 
-    localconfdir=${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-${HOME}/.config}/kak
-
     echo "colorscheme default"
 
-    if [ -d "${localconfdir}/autoload" ]; then
-        autoload_directory ${localconfdir}/autoload
+    if [ -d "${kak_config}/autoload" ]; then
+        autoload_directory ${kak_config}/autoload
     elif [ -d "${kak_runtime}/autoload" ]; then
         autoload_directory ${kak_runtime}/autoload
     fi
@@ -42,7 +38,7 @@ def -params 1 -docstring "colorscheme <name>: enable named colorscheme" \
         echo "source '${kak_runtime}/kakrc.local'"
     fi
 
-    if [ -f "${localconfdir}/kakrc" ]; then
-        echo "source '${localconfdir}/kakrc'"
+    if [ -f "${kak_config}/kakrc" ]; then
+        echo "source '${kak_config}/kakrc'"
     fi
 }
diff --git a/src/main.cc b/src/main.cc
index b9f995f6..aff7f9f2 100644
--- a/src/main.cc
+++ b/src/main.cc
@@ -68,6 +68,14 @@ String runtime_directory()
     return "/usr/share/kak";
 }
 
+String config_directory()
+{
+    StringView config_home = getenv("XDG_CONFIG_HOME");
+    if (config_home.empty())
+        return format("{}/.config/kak", getenv("HOME"));
+    return format("{}/kak", config_home);
+}
+
 void register_env_vars()
 {
     static const struct {
@@ -112,6 +120,10 @@ void register_env_vars()
             "runtime", false,
             [](StringView name, const Context& context)
             { return runtime_directory(); }
+        }, {
+            "config", false,
+            [](StringView name, const Context& context)
+            { return config_directory(); }
         }, {
             "opt_", true,
             [](StringView name, const Context& context)