diff --git a/compact.go b/compact.go
index 4f78434..158c850 100644
--- a/compact.go
+++ b/compact.go
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/klauspost/compress/zstd"
 )
 
-var defaultArchiveOutputDirectory = ".core/archive"
+var defaultArchiveOutputDirectory = ".core/archive/"
 
 // Usage example: `options := store.CompactOptions{Before: time.Now().Add(-90 * 24 * time.Hour), Output: "/tmp/archive", Format: "gzip"}`
 type CompactOptions struct {
diff --git a/path_test.go b/path_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cfeba71
--- /dev/null
+++ b/path_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+package store
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+)
+
+func TestPath_Normalise_Good_TrailingSlashes(t *testing.T) {
+	assert.Equal(t, ".core/state/scroll-session.duckdb", workspaceFilePath(".core/state/", "scroll-session"))
+	assert.Equal(t, ".core/archive/journal-20260404-010203.jsonl.gz", joinPath(".core/archive/", "journal-20260404-010203.jsonl.gz"))
+	assert.Equal(t, ".core/archive", normaliseDirectoryPath(".core/archive///"))
+}
diff --git a/workspace.go b/workspace.go
index 85534df..c2cac75 100644
--- a/workspace.go
+++ b/workspace.go
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ SELECT
 	created_at
 FROM workspace_entries`
 
-var defaultWorkspaceStateDirectory = ".core/state"
+var defaultWorkspaceStateDirectory = ".core/state/"
 
 // Workspace buffers mutable work-in-progress in `.core/state/scroll-session.duckdb`
 // until Commit or Discard removes the file.
@@ -197,10 +197,7 @@ func discoverOrphanWorkspaces(stateDirectory string, backingStore *Store) []*Wor
 }
 
 func normaliseWorkspaceStateDirectory(stateDirectory string) string {
-	for stateDirectory != "" && core.HasSuffix(stateDirectory, "/") {
-		stateDirectory = core.TrimSuffix(stateDirectory, "/")
-	}
-	return stateDirectory
+	return normaliseDirectoryPath(stateDirectory)
 }
 
 func workspaceNameFromPath(stateDirectory, databasePath string) string {
@@ -514,5 +511,12 @@ func joinPath(base, name string) string {
 	if base == "" {
 		return name
 	}
-	return core.Concat(core.TrimSuffix(base, "/"), "/", name)
+	return core.Concat(normaliseDirectoryPath(base), "/", name)
+}
+
+func normaliseDirectoryPath(directory string) string {
+	for directory != "" && core.HasSuffix(directory, "/") {
+		directory = core.TrimSuffix(directory, "/")
+	}
+	return directory
 }