diff --git a/pkg/build/buildcmd/cmd_project.go b/pkg/build/buildcmd/cmd_project.go
index c51adbf9..f25249fd 100644
--- a/pkg/build/buildcmd/cmd_project.go
+++ b/pkg/build/buildcmd/cmd_project.go
@@ -77,6 +77,8 @@ func runProjectBuild(ctx context.Context, buildType string, ciMode bool, targets
 	if !filepath.IsAbs(outputDir) {
 		outputDir = filepath.Join(projectDir, outputDir)
 	}
+	outputDir = filepath.Clean(outputDir)
+
 
 	// Ensure config path is absolute if provided
 	if configPath != "" && !filepath.IsAbs(configPath) {
diff --git a/pkg/io/local/client.go b/pkg/io/local/client.go
index 0690f087..8a8b5154 100644
--- a/pkg/io/local/client.go
+++ b/pkg/io/local/client.go
@@ -47,6 +47,14 @@ func (m *Medium) path(p string) string {
 		clean = strings.TrimLeft(clean, cutset)
 		return filepath.Join(m.root, clean)
 	}
+	// If the path is relative and the medium is rooted at "/",
+	// treat it as relative to the current working directory.
+	// This makes io.Local behave more like the standard 'os' package.
+	if m.root == "/" && !filepath.IsAbs(clean) {
+		cwd, _ := os.Getwd()
+		return filepath.Join(cwd, clean)
+	}
+
 	return filepath.Join(m.root, clean)
 }