diff --git a/CONFIGURATION.md b/CONFIGURATION.md
index 0cf8478..eed672a 100644
--- a/CONFIGURATION.md
+++ b/CONFIGURATION.md
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@ This is a focused **configuration reference** maintained alongside the engine. T
 
 | Platform | Default path | Override |
 |---|---|---|
-| Linux / macOS | `~/Documents/Last30Days/` | `LAST30DAYS_MEMORY_DIR=/path` |
-| Windows | `C:\Users\<you>\Documents\Last30Days\` | `LAST30DAYS_MEMORY_DIR=C:\path` |
+| Linux / macOS | `LAST30DAYS_MEMORY_DIR` defaults to `~/Documents/Last30Days/` | set `LAST30DAYS_MEMORY_DIR=/path` |
+| Windows | `LAST30DAYS_MEMORY_DIR` defaults to `C:\Users\<you>\Documents\Last30Days\` | set `LAST30DAYS_MEMORY_DIR=C:\path` |
 
 Each run produces one file per topic, slug-named:
 `<slug>-raw[-suffix].md`. Same topic + same suffix on the same day overwrites; same topic + same suffix on different days appends a date stamp.
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ Each run produces one file per topic, slug-named:
 - `--save-dir <path>` - one-off output location.
 - `--save-suffix <name>` - distinguish runs of the same topic (e.g. per client: `--save-suffix=acme`).
 
-The footer line `📎 Raw results saved to ~/Documents/Last30Days/<slug>-raw.md` is the canonical pointer; if it shows backslashes on Windows update past v3.1.1.
+The footer line `📎 Raw results saved to ${LAST30DAYS_MEMORY_DIR:-$HOME/Documents/Last30Days}/<slug>-raw.md` is the canonical pointer; if it shows backslashes on Windows update past v3.1.1.
 
 ---
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f90a928..df6abbc 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@ See [CONFIGURATION.md](CONFIGURATION.md) for the full per-source key matrix, rea
 
 Two things you'll likely want to know on day one:
 
-**Where research files are saved.** Default is `~/Documents/Last30Days/` (Windows: `C:\Users\<you>\Documents\Last30Days\`). Override with `LAST30DAYS_MEMORY_DIR=/path` in your shell, or `--save-dir <path>` per run. Use `--save-suffix=<name>` to keep multiple variations of the same topic separate (e.g. per client). Each run produces `<slug>-raw[-suffix].md`.
+**Where research files are saved.** `LAST30DAYS_MEMORY_DIR` defaults to `~/Documents/Last30Days/` (Windows: `C:\Users\<you>\Documents\Last30Days\`). Override by setting that env var to any path in your shell, or `--save-dir <path>` per run. Use `--save-suffix=<name>` to keep multiple variations of the same topic separate (e.g. per client). Each run produces `<slug>-raw[-suffix].md`.
 
 **Trend monitoring across runs.** The default mode produces a fresh markdown snapshot per run. To accumulate findings over time, add `--store` to persist into a SQLite database, then use [`scripts/watchlist.py`](skills/last30days/scripts/watchlist.py) for scheduled runs (with optional Slack / webhook delivery on new findings) and [`scripts/briefing.py`](skills/last30days/scripts/briefing.py) for daily / weekly digests. The full cadence pattern is in [CONFIGURATION.md](CONFIGURATION.md#trend-monitoring-store--watchlist--briefings).