diff --git a/src/agents.rs b/src/agents.rs
index 1a64f87..d6892c3 100644
--- a/src/agents.rs
+++ b/src/agents.rs
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ use std::env;
 use std::path::PathBuf;
 
 pub fn agent_rw_paths() -> Vec<PathBuf> {
-    let home = match env::var("HOME") {
+    let home = match crate::require_home() {
         Ok(h) => PathBuf::from(h),
         Err(_) => return vec![],
     };
diff --git a/src/blacklist.rs b/src/blacklist.rs
index 46a7c8f..f7fab8a 100644
--- a/src/blacklist.rs
+++ b/src/blacklist.rs
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ pub fn resolve_overlays(ctx: &PathContext) -> Result<BlacklistOverlays, SandboxE
 }
 
 pub fn resolve_path_context() -> Result<PathContext, SandboxError> {
-    let home = std::env::var("HOME").map_err(|_| SandboxError::HomeNotSet)?;
+    let home = crate::require_home()?;
     let run_user = std::env::var("XDG_RUNTIME_DIR")
         .ok()
         .or_else(resolve_run_user_from_proc)
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index a86b186..00bf34c 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ mod sandbox;
 
 pub use errors::SandboxError;
 
+use std::env;
 use std::ffi::OsString;
 use std::os::unix::process::CommandExt;
 use std::path::PathBuf;
@@ -27,6 +28,13 @@ pub struct SandboxConfig {
     pub dry_run: bool,
 }
 
+pub fn require_home() -> Result<String, SandboxError> {
+    env::var("HOME")
+        .ok()
+        .filter(|h| !h.is_empty())
+        .ok_or(SandboxError::HomeNotSet)
+}
+
 pub fn run(config: SandboxConfig) -> Result<(), SandboxError> {
     preflight::check(&config)?;
 
diff --git a/src/sandbox.rs b/src/sandbox.rs
index 08a94dd..391cc1f 100644
--- a/src/sandbox.rs
+++ b/src/sandbox.rs
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ fn add_blacklist_mode(cmd: &mut Command) -> Result<(), SandboxError> {
 }
 
 fn add_whitelist_mode(cmd: &mut Command) -> Result<(), SandboxError> {
-    let home = std::env::var("HOME").map_err(|_| SandboxError::HomeNotSet)?;
+    let home = crate::require_home()?;
 
     cmd.args(["--ro-bind", "/usr", "/usr"]);
     for path in ["/lib", "/lib64", "/lib32", "/bin", "/sbin"] {
diff --git a/tests/integration.rs b/tests/integration.rs
index c5e5e04..8eb0292 100644
--- a/tests/integration.rs
+++ b/tests/integration.rs
@@ -284,6 +284,25 @@ fn relative_ro_path_works() {
     );
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn empty_home_rejected() {
+    let output = sandbox(&[])
+        .env("HOME", "")
+        .args(["--", "true"])
+        .output()
+        .expect("agent-sandbox binary failed to execute");
+
+    assert!(
+        !output.status.success(),
+        "expected failure with empty HOME, but got success"
+    );
+    let stderr = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stderr);
+    assert!(
+        stderr.to_lowercase().contains("home"),
+        "expected error mentioning HOME, got: {stderr}"
+    );
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn rw_missing_path_errors() {
     let output = sandbox(&["--rw", "/nonexistent/xyz"])