diff --git a/helix-term/src/commands/typed.rs b/helix-term/src/commands/typed.rs
index c2ca1a478..5c0cd6543 100644
--- a/helix-term/src/commands/typed.rs
+++ b/helix-term/src/commands/typed.rs
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ fn open(cx: &mut compositor::Context, args: &[Cow<str>], event: PromptEvent) ->
     ensure!(!args.is_empty(), "wrong argument count");
     for arg in args {
         let (path, pos) = args::parse_file(arg);
+        let path = helix_core::path::expand_tilde(&path);
         // If the path is a directory, open a file picker on that directory and update the status
         // message
         if let Ok(true) = std::fs::canonicalize(&path).map(|p| p.is_dir()) {