diff --git a/src/utils/resolve-project-path.spec.ts b/src/utils/resolve-project-path.spec.ts
index 7f4f224..f143ede 100644
--- a/src/utils/resolve-project-path.spec.ts
+++ b/src/utils/resolve-project-path.spec.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { homedir } from 'node:os'
-import { join, normalize } from 'node:path'
+import { isAbsolute, join, normalize, resolve } from 'node:path'
 import { describe, expect, it, vi, beforeEach } from 'vitest'
 
 const mockDaemonListProjects = vi.fn()
@@ -21,25 +21,37 @@ describe('resolveProjectPath', () => {
   })
 
   describe('path input', () => {
-    it('should return absolute paths as-is', async () => {
-      const result = await resolveProjectPath('/absolute/path')
-      expect(result).toBe('/absolute/path')
+    it('should keep absolute paths absolute', async () => {
+      const absolute = resolve('/absolute/path')
+      const result = await resolveProjectPath(absolute)
+      expect(result).toBe(absolute)
     })
 
-    it('should return relative paths starting with dot', async () => {
-      const result = await resolveProjectPath('./relative')
-      expect(result).toBe('./relative')
+    it('should resolve "." to the current working directory', async () => {
+      const result = await resolveProjectPath('.')
+      expect(result).toBe(process.cwd())
     })
 
-    it('should expand tilde to home directory', async () => {
-      const result = await resolveProjectPath('~/projects')
-      // untildify keeps the input slash; normalize for Windows
-      expect(normalize(result)).toBe(join(homedir(), 'projects'))
+    it('should resolve "../x" against the current working directory', async () => {
+      const result = await resolveProjectPath('../x')
+      expect(result).toBe(resolve(process.cwd(), '../x'))
     })
 
-    it('should return paths with slashes', async () => {
+    it('should resolve paths with slashes to absolute paths', async () => {
       const result = await resolveProjectPath('some/path')
-      expect(result).toBe('some/path')
+      expect(result).toBe(resolve(process.cwd(), 'some/path'))
+    })
+
+    it('should expand tilde to an absolute home directory path', async () => {
+      const result = await resolveProjectPath('~/x')
+      expect(normalize(result)).toBe(normalize(join(homedir(), 'x')))
+      expect(isAbsolute(result)).toBe(true)
+    })
+
+    it('should resolve a relative CENTY_CWD to an absolute path', async () => {
+      Reflect.set(process.env, 'CENTY_CWD', '.')
+      const result = await resolveProjectPath(undefined)
+      expect(result).toBe(process.cwd())
     })
   })
 
@@ -75,7 +87,7 @@ describe('resolveProjectPath', () => {
     it('should use CENTY_CWD env var when no arg provided', async () => {
       Reflect.set(process.env, 'CENTY_CWD', '/env/path')
       const result = await resolveProjectPath(undefined)
-      expect(result).toBe('/env/path')
+      expect(result).toBe(resolve('/env/path'))
     })
 
     it('should use cwd when no arg and no env var', async () => {
diff --git a/src/utils/resolve-project-path.ts b/src/utils/resolve-project-path.ts
index b16889a..4886aec 100644
--- a/src/utils/resolve-project-path.ts
+++ b/src/utils/resolve-project-path.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { isAbsolute } from 'node:path'
+import { isAbsolute, resolve } from 'node:path'
 import untildify from 'untildify'
 import { daemonListProjects } from '../daemon/daemon-list-projects.js'
 
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ export class ProjectNotFoundError extends Error {
  *
  * The input can be:
  * - undefined: uses CENTY_CWD env var or process.cwd()
- * - A filesystem path: returned as-is (with tilde expansion)
+ * - A filesystem path: returned as an absolute path (tilde expanded)
  * - A project name: looked up via daemon to get the path
  *
  * @param projectArg - The project name or path from the --project flag
@@ -58,9 +58,9 @@ export async function resolveProjectPath(
         ? CENTY_CWD
         : process.cwd()
 
-  // 2. If it looks like a path, return it (with tilde expansion)
+  // 2. If it looks like a path, return it absolute (tilde expanded, relative resolved against cwd)
   if (isPath(input)) {
-    return untildify(input)
+    return resolve(untildify(input))
   }
 
   // 3. Otherwise treat as project name - look up in daemon