2 files changed, 41 insertions, 5 deletions
diff --git a/internal/mobius/config.go b/internal/mobius/config.go
index 6e5fb9f..171f6c7 100644
--- a/internal/mobius/config.go
+++ b/internal/mobius/config.go
@@ -52,10 +52,7 @@ func LoadConfig(path string) (*hotline.Config, error) {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("validate config: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	// If the FileRoot is an absolute path, use it, otherwise treat as a relative path to the config dir.
-	if !filepath.IsAbs(config.FileRoot) {
-		config.FileRoot = filepath.Join(path, "../", config.FileRoot)
-	}
-
+	// FileRoot is returned verbatim: it is a path within the selected file store's namespace, so
+	// only the caller knows how to resolve it (e.g. against the config dir for the OS backend).
 	return &config, nil
 }
diff --git a/internal/mobius/config_test.go b/internal/mobius/config_test.go
index b76b16d..bed739d 100644
--- a/internal/mobius/config_test.go
+++ b/internal/mobius/config_test.go
@@ -41,6 +41,45 @@ FileRoot: "files"
 	}
 }
 
+// TestLoadConfig_FileRootKeptVerbatim guards against LoadConfig resolving FileRoot to a host
+// filesystem path.  FileRoot is a path within the selected file store's namespace; rewriting it to
+// a local absolute path here would leak the host's directory layout into object-store keys.
+func TestLoadConfig_FileRootKeptVerbatim(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name     string
+		fileRoot string
+	}{
+		{"relative path", "files"},
+		{"nested relative path", "library/files"},
+		{"absolute path", "/srv/hotline/files"},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			tmpDir := t.TempDir()
+
+			configContent := `
+Name: "Test Server"
+Description: "Test Description"
+FileRoot: "` + tt.fileRoot + `"
+`
+			configPath := filepath.Join(tmpDir, "config.yaml")
+			if err := os.WriteFile(configPath, []byte(configContent), 0644); err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("Failed to write config file: %v", err)
+			}
+
+			config, err := LoadConfig(configPath)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("Expected no error, got: %v", err)
+			}
+
+			if config.FileRoot != tt.fileRoot {
+				t.Errorf("Expected FileRoot to be %q, got %q", tt.fileRoot, config.FileRoot)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func TestLoadConfig_ValidBannerFileExtensions(t *testing.T) {
 	tests := []struct {
 		name       string