diff --git a/src/fairchem/core/common/flags.py b/src/fairchem/core/common/flags.py
index ac4bd2f84..266e1e640 100644
--- a/src/fairchem/core/common/flags.py
+++ b/src/fairchem/core/common/flags.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import argparse
+import os
 from pathlib import Path
 
 
@@ -48,7 +49,7 @@ def add_core_args(self) -> None:
         )
         self.parser.add_argument(
             "--run-dir",
-            default="./",
+            default=os.path.abspath("./"),
             type=str,
             help="Directory to store checkpoint/log/result directory",
         )