diff --git a/__mac-cluade-app-builder/make-app.sh b/__mac-cluade-app-builder/make-app.sh
index 45b1157..29d5d3f 100755
--- a/__mac-cluade-app-builder/make-app.sh
+++ b/__mac-cluade-app-builder/make-app.sh
@@ -65,8 +65,15 @@ if [[ ! -f "$BIN" ]]; then
   swift build -c release
 fi
 
-# expand ~ in workdir
-WORKDIR="${WORKDIR/#\~/$HOME}"
+# Keep workdir portable across machines/users: store paths under the current
+# home directory as a literal "~", so each app expands it per-user at runtime
+# (Swift's expandingTildeInPath). Note the shell may have already expanded a "~"
+# you typed on the command line into an absolute $HOME path, so we normalize that
+# back to "~" too. Paths outside $HOME stay absolute (genuinely machine-specific).
+case "$WORKDIR" in
+  "$HOME")   WORKDIR="~" ;;
+  "$HOME"/*) WORKDIR="~/${WORKDIR#"$HOME"/}" ;;
+esac
 
 # ---- assemble the .app bundle ---------------------------------------------
 APP="$OUTDIR/$NAME.app"