diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/web-apps/mastodon.nix b/nixos/modules/services/web-apps/mastodon.nix
index 8021abb42ede..88a3ff0faf6b 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/web-apps/mastodon.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/web-apps/mastodon.nix
@@ -145,9 +145,11 @@ let
     pkgs.writeShellScriptBin "mastodon-tootctl" ''
       set -a
       export RAILS_ROOT="${cfg.package}"
+      export HOME="/var/lib/mastodon"
       source "${envFile}"
       source /var/lib/mastodon/.secrets_env
       ${sourceExtraEnv}
+      cd /var/lib/mastodon
 
       sudo=exec
       if [[ "$USER" != ${cfg.user} ]]; then