diff --git a/desktop/src-tauri/Cargo.lock b/desktop/src-tauri/Cargo.lock
index ab174ad907..bbc7332b57 100644
--- a/desktop/src-tauri/Cargo.lock
+++ b/desktop/src-tauri/Cargo.lock
@@ -4328,6 +4328,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "atomic-write-file",
  "base64 0.22.1",
  "chrono",
+ "dirs",
  "hex",
  "infer 0.16.0",
  "libc",
diff --git a/desktop/src-tauri/Cargo.toml b/desktop/src-tauri/Cargo.toml
index 8618eb075d..2deca5323d 100644
--- a/desktop/src-tauri/Cargo.toml
+++ b/desktop/src-tauri/Cargo.toml
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ windows-sys = { version = "0.59", features = ["Win32_Storage_FileSystem"] }
 
 [dependencies]
 atomic-write-file = "0.3"
+dirs = "6"
 tauri = { version = "2", features = [] }
 tauri-plugin-opener = "2"
 tauri-plugin-window-state = "2"
diff --git a/desktop/src-tauri/src/commands/agent_models.rs b/desktop/src-tauri/src/commands/agent_models.rs
index 97bddecafc..4027650de9 100644
--- a/desktop/src-tauri/src/commands/agent_models.rs
+++ b/desktop/src-tauri/src/commands/agent_models.rs
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ use tauri::{AppHandle, State};
 use crate::{
     app_state::AppState,
     managed_agents::{
-        build_managed_agent_summary, find_managed_agent_mut, load_managed_agents,
-        missing_command_message, resolve_command, save_managed_agents,
+        build_managed_agent_summary, default_agent_workdir, find_managed_agent_mut,
+        load_managed_agents, missing_command_message, resolve_command, save_managed_agents,
         sync_managed_agent_processes, AgentModelInfo, AgentModelsResponse, ManagedAgentSummary,
         UpdateManagedAgentRequest, DEFAULT_AGENT_ARG,
     },
@@ -63,8 +63,11 @@ pub async fn get_agent_models(
     // tokio's `process` feature. std::process::Command is synchronous
     // but fine for a short-lived subprocess (~2-5s).
     let output = tokio::task::spawn_blocking(move || {
-        std::process::Command::new(&resolved_acp)
-            .arg("models")
+        let mut cmd = std::process::Command::new(&resolved_acp);
+        if let Some(home) = default_agent_workdir() {
+            cmd.current_dir(home);
+        }
+        cmd.arg("models")
             .arg("--json")
             .env("SPROUT_ACP_AGENT_COMMAND", &agent_command)
             .env("SPROUT_ACP_AGENT_ARGS", agent_args.join(","))
diff --git a/desktop/src-tauri/src/managed_agents/backend.rs b/desktop/src-tauri/src/managed_agents/backend.rs
index 2b60104569..e0e19e4698 100644
--- a/desktop/src-tauri/src/managed_agents/backend.rs
+++ b/desktop/src-tauri/src/managed_agents/backend.rs
@@ -26,7 +26,11 @@ pub fn invoke_provider(
         serde_json::to_string(request).map_err(|e| e.to_string())?
     );
 
-    let mut child = std::process::Command::new(binary)
+    let mut cmd = std::process::Command::new(binary);
+    if let Some(home) = super::default_agent_workdir() {
+        cmd.current_dir(home);
+    }
+    let mut child = cmd
         .stdin(std::process::Stdio::piped())
         .stdout(std::process::Stdio::piped())
         .stderr(std::process::Stdio::piped())
diff --git a/desktop/src-tauri/src/managed_agents/mod.rs b/desktop/src-tauri/src/managed_agents/mod.rs
index 544ccfc3f9..8cf92674ca 100644
--- a/desktop/src-tauri/src/managed_agents/mod.rs
+++ b/desktop/src-tauri/src/managed_agents/mod.rs
@@ -15,3 +15,17 @@ pub use runtime::*;
 pub use storage::*;
 pub use teams::*;
 pub use types::*;
+
+/// Returns the user's home directory if it can be resolved and exists.
+/// Used as the default working directory for spawned agent processes.
+///
+/// Cached for the process lifetime — home directory doesn't change at runtime.
+/// Returns `None` in sandboxed/containerized environments where `$HOME` is
+/// unset or points to a non-existent path; callers fall back to inheriting
+/// the parent's CWD.
+pub fn default_agent_workdir() -> Option<std::path::PathBuf> {
+    use std::sync::OnceLock;
+    static HOME: OnceLock<Option<std::path::PathBuf>> = OnceLock::new();
+    HOME.get_or_init(|| dirs::home_dir().filter(|p| p.is_dir()))
+        .clone()
+}
diff --git a/desktop/src-tauri/src/managed_agents/runtime.rs b/desktop/src-tauri/src/managed_agents/runtime.rs
index b90028b11a..0399515f0c 100644
--- a/desktop/src-tauri/src/managed_agents/runtime.rs
+++ b/desktop/src-tauri/src/managed_agents/runtime.rs
@@ -283,6 +283,9 @@ pub fn start_managed_agent_process(
         .ok_or_else(|| missing_command_message(&record.mcp_command, "MCP server command"))?;
 
     let mut command = std::process::Command::new(&resolved_acp_command);
+    if let Some(home) = super::default_agent_workdir() {
+        command.current_dir(home);
+    }
     command.stdin(std::process::Stdio::null());
     command.stdout(std::process::Stdio::from(stdout));
     command.stderr(std::process::Stdio::from(stderr));
diff --git a/desktop/src-tauri/src/managed_agents/types.rs b/desktop/src-tauri/src/managed_agents/types.rs
index 94df1bd74d..b9db7c8558 100644
--- a/desktop/src-tauri/src/managed_agents/types.rs
+++ b/desktop/src-tauri/src/managed_agents/types.rs
@@ -310,7 +310,8 @@ pub const DEFAULT_ADMIN_COMMAND: &str = "sprout-admin";
 pub const DEFAULT_AGENT_COMMAND: &str = "goose";
 pub const DEFAULT_MCP_COMMAND: &str = "sprout-mcp-server";
 pub const DEFAULT_AGENT_ARG: &str = "acp";
-pub const DEFAULT_AGENT_TURN_TIMEOUT_SECONDS: u64 = 300;
+/// 10 min — agents with tool-heavy turns regularly exceed the previous 5 min default.
+pub const DEFAULT_AGENT_TURN_TIMEOUT_SECONDS: u64 = 600;
 pub const DEFAULT_AGENT_PARALLELISM: u32 = 1;
 
 fn default_agent_parallelism() -> u32 {