diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8ae0084..df64006 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ write your own using `mod.h` if you want to
 
 ## config
 
-by default `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/modfetch.conf`
+by default `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/modfetch.conf`, `~/.config/modfetch.conf` if `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME` doesn't exist
 
 format:
 ```
diff --git a/modfetch.c b/modfetch.c
index 297a520..d1134ea 100644
--- a/modfetch.c
+++ b/modfetch.c
@@ -211,8 +211,16 @@ Config parse_config(FILE *config_file) {
 int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 
     char *config_path;
+    char *config_dir = getenv("XDG_CONFIG_HOME");
+    if (config_dir == NULL) {
+        char *home = getenv("$HOME");
+        if (asprintf(&config_dir, "%s/.config", home) < 0) {
+            fprintf(stderr, "error: failed formatting config dir (this shouldn't happen)");
+            exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+        }
+    }
 
-    if (asprintf(&config_path, "%s/modfetch.conf", getenv("XDG_CONFIG_HOME")) < 0) {
+    if (asprintf(&config_path, "%s/modfetch.conf", config_dir) < 0) {
         fprintf(stderr, "error: failed formatting config path (this shouldn't happen)");
         exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
     }