diff --git a/modules/misc/xdg.nix b/modules/misc/xdg.nix
index 2b331dfa..76d926ab 100644
--- a/modules/misc/xdg.nix
+++ b/modules/misc/xdg.nix
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ let
   defaultConfigHome = "${config.home.homeDirectory}/.config";
   defaultDataHome = "${config.home.homeDirectory}/.local/share";
 
-  getXdgDir = name: fallback:
+  getEnvFallback = name: fallback:
     let value = builtins.getEnv name;
     in if value != "" then value else fallback;
 
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ in {
     cacheHome = mkOption {
       type = types.path;
       defaultText = "~/.cache";
+      apply = toString;
       description = ''
         Absolute path to directory holding application caches.
       '';
@@ -43,6 +44,7 @@ in {
     configHome = mkOption {
       type = types.path;
       defaultText = "~/.config";
+      apply = toString;
       description = ''
         Absolute path to directory holding application configurations.
       '';
@@ -60,6 +62,7 @@ in {
     dataHome = mkOption {
       type = types.path;
       defaultText = "~/.local/share";
+      apply = toString;
       description = ''
         Absolute path to directory holding application data.
       '';
@@ -81,9 +84,11 @@ in {
 
     # Legacy non-deterministic setup.
     (mkIf (!cfg.enable && versionOlder config.home.stateVersion "20.09") {
-      xdg.cacheHome = getXdgDir "XDG_CACHE_HOME" defaultCacheHome;
-      xdg.configHome = getXdgDir "XDG_CONFIG_HOME" defaultConfigHome;
-      xdg.dataHome = getXdgDir "XDG_DATA_HOME" defaultDataHome;
+      xdg.cacheHome =
+        mkDefault (getEnvFallback "XDG_CACHE_HOME" defaultCacheHome);
+      xdg.configHome =
+        mkDefault (getEnvFallback "XDG_CONFIG_HOME" defaultConfigHome);
+      xdg.dataHome = mkDefault (getEnvFallback "XDG_DATA_HOME" defaultDataHome);
     })
 
     # "Modern" deterministic setup.
@@ -95,13 +100,11 @@ in {
 
     {
       home.file = mkMerge [
-        (mapAttrs'
-          (name: file: nameValuePair "${config.xdg.configHome}/${name}" file)
+        (mapAttrs' (name: file: nameValuePair "${cfg.configHome}/${name}" file)
           cfg.configFile)
-        (mapAttrs'
-          (name: file: nameValuePair "${config.xdg.dataHome}/${name}" file)
+        (mapAttrs' (name: file: nameValuePair "${cfg.dataHome}/${name}" file)
           cfg.dataFile)
-        { "${config.xdg.cacheHome}/.keep".text = ""; }
+        { "${cfg.cacheHome}/.keep".text = ""; }
       ];
     }
   ];
diff --git a/tests/modules/misc/xdg/default.nix b/tests/modules/misc/xdg/default.nix
index b637cd1b..e3104dd9 100644
--- a/tests/modules/misc/xdg/default.nix
+++ b/tests/modules/misc/xdg/default.nix
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   xdg-mime-apps-basics = ./mime-apps-basics.nix;
-  xdg-file-attr-names = ./file-attr-names.nix;
   xdg-system-dirs = ./system-dirs.nix;
   xdg-desktop-entries = ./desktop-entries.nix;
+  xdg-file-gen = ./file-gen.nix;
 }
diff --git a/tests/modules/misc/xdg/file-attr-names.nix b/tests/modules/misc/xdg/file-attr-names.nix
deleted file mode 100644
index 0aa8fcff..00000000
--- a/tests/modules/misc/xdg/file-attr-names.nix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
-{ config, lib, pkgs, ... }:
-
-with lib;
-
-{
-  config = {
-    xdg.configFile.test.text = "config";
-    xdg.dataFile.test.text = "data";
-    home.file.test.text = "home";
-
-    nmt.script = ''
-      assertFileExists home-files/.config/test
-      assertFileExists home-files/.local/share/test
-      assertFileExists home-files/test
-      assertFileContent \
-        home-files/.config/test \
-        ${builtins.toFile "test" "config"}
-      assertFileContent \
-        home-files/.local/share/test \
-        ${builtins.toFile "test" "data"}
-      assertFileContent \
-        home-files/test \
-        ${builtins.toFile "test" "home"}
-    '';
-  };
-}
diff --git a/tests/modules/misc/xdg/file-gen.nix b/tests/modules/misc/xdg/file-gen.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bf7bb339
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/modules/misc/xdg/file-gen.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+{ config, lib, pkgs, ... }:
+
+with lib;
+
+{
+  config = {
+    xdg.configHome = /. + "${config.home.homeDirectory}/.dummy-config";
+    xdg.dataHome = /. + "${config.home.homeDirectory}/.dummy-data";
+    xdg.cacheHome = /. + "${config.home.homeDirectory}/.dummy-cache";
+
+    xdg.configFile.test.text = "config";
+    xdg.dataFile.test.text = "data";
+    home.file."${config.xdg.cacheHome}/test".text = "cache";
+
+    nmt.script = ''
+      assertFileExists home-files/.dummy-config/test
+      assertFileExists home-files/.dummy-cache/test
+      assertFileExists home-files/.dummy-data/test
+      assertFileContent \
+        home-files/.dummy-config/test \
+        ${builtins.toFile "test" "config"}
+      assertFileContent \
+        home-files/.dummy-data/test \
+        ${builtins.toFile "test" "data"}
+      assertFileContent \
+        home-files/.dummy-cache/test \
+        ${builtins.toFile "test" "cache"}
+    '';
+  };
+}