diff --git a/hosts/common/programs/rofi/config.rasi b/hosts/common/programs/rofi/config.rasi
index f0a2db6e..5b9de123 100644
--- a/hosts/common/programs/rofi/config.rasi
+++ b/hosts/common/programs/rofi/config.rasi
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ configuration {
   kb-accept-entry: "Return,KP_Enter,XF86PowerOff";
   kb-row-up: "Up,XF86AudioRaiseVolume";
   kb-row-down: "Down,XF86AudioLowerVolume";
+  cache-dir: "~/.cache/rofi";
 
   /* to position rofi to the top of the screen: */
   /* location: 2; */
@@ -31,7 +32,8 @@ configuration {
 
   filebrowser {
     /* directory: filebrowser starting directory. leave unset to start at the last directory. */
-    directory: "/home";
+    /* directory: "/home"; */
+
     /* display-name: text to prepend in combi mode */
     display-name: "/";
     /* `command` is the prefix to prepend (along with a space) *before* passing it off to `run-command` */
diff --git a/hosts/common/programs/rofi/default.nix b/hosts/common/programs/rofi/default.nix
index 060851fc..20306049 100644
--- a/hosts/common/programs/rofi/default.nix
+++ b/hosts/common/programs/rofi/default.nix
@@ -97,12 +97,10 @@ in
     ];
 
     fs.".config/rofi/config.rasi".symlink.target = ./config.rasi;
-    # redirect its default drun cache location
-    fs.".cache/rofi3.druncache".symlink.target = "rofi/rofi3.druncache";
-    fs.".cache/rofi3.filebrowsercache".symlink.target = "rofi/rofi3.filebrowsercache";
-    fs.".cache/rofi-drun-desktop.cache".symlink.target = "rofi/rofi-drun-desktop.cache";
     persist.byStore.cryptClearOnBoot = [
-      # optional, for caching .desktop files rofi finds on disk (perf)
+      # this gets us a few things:
+      # - file browser remembers its last directory
+      # - caching of .desktop files (perf)
       ".cache/rofi"
     ];
   };
diff --git a/hosts/common/programs/rofi/rofi-run-command b/hosts/common/programs/rofi/rofi-run-command
index fe2ad884..423936a0 100755
--- a/hosts/common/programs/rofi/rofi-run-command
+++ b/hosts/common/programs/rofi/rofi-run-command
@@ -14,6 +14,12 @@ shift
 binArgs=("$@")
 
 if [ "$desktop" != .desktop ]; then
+  # launching an app; the file browser position is no longer interesting: clear it so it opens in ~ next time.
+  # better UX would be to manage this in the other branch:
+  # - open in ~ by default, regardless of last directory
+  # - after launching a *file*, when that file is closed, re-open rofi in that file's directory.
+  # however, `xdg-open` and the `OpenFile` xdg-desktop-portal API don't give any obvious way to block for the app to close.
+  rm -f ~/.cache/rofi/rofi3.filebrowsercache
   exec sane-open-desktop "$desktop"
 elif [ "$binary" = "xdg-open" ]; then
   exec xdg-open "$@"