diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 01c4a09..016e9e7 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ First create a repo
 silo --repo /path/to/repo init
 ```
 This creates the repo directory and initializes a git repository.
+If no `--repo` argument is passed, it will default to `$HOME/.local/share/silo` or `$HOME/AppData/Roaming/silo`.
 
 ### Add configuration files
 
diff --git a/src/args.rs b/src/args.rs
index 011dd69..d9f4afd 100644
--- a/src/args.rs
+++ b/src/args.rs
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ pub struct Args {
     #[arg(short, long)]
     pub verbose: bool,
 
-    #[arg(short, long, default_value = ".")]
+    #[arg(short, long, default_value = default_repo() )]
     pub repo: PathBuf,
     /// The silo command to execute
     #[command(subcommand)]
@@ -24,3 +24,14 @@ pub enum Command {
     /// Print the entire context available to templates
     Context,
 }
+
+fn default_repo() -> &'static str {
+    lazy_static::lazy_static! {
+        static ref DEFAULT_REPO: String = dirs::data_dir()
+        .unwrap()
+        .join("silo")
+        .to_string_lossy()
+        .into();
+    }
+    &*DEFAULT_REPO
+}