diff --git a/cmd/root.go b/cmd/root.go
index 3619c7bfe1a..e5c04791a1d 100644
--- a/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/root.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/AlecAivazis/survey/v2"
+	"github.com/adrg/xdg"
 	"github.com/andreaskoch/go-fswatch"
 	"github.com/joho/godotenv"
 	"github.com/mitchellh/go-homedir"
@@ -98,18 +99,21 @@ func configLocations() []string {
 		log.Fatal(err)
 	}
 
+	configFileName := ".actrc"
+
 	// reference: https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/latest/ar01s03.html
 	var actrcXdg string
-	if xdg, ok := os.LookupEnv("XDG_CONFIG_HOME"); ok && xdg != "" {
-		actrcXdg = filepath.Join(xdg, ".actrc")
-	} else {
-		actrcXdg = filepath.Join(home, ".config", ".actrc")
+	for _, fileName := range []string{"act/actrc", configFileName} {
+		if foundConfig, err := xdg.SearchConfigFile(fileName); foundConfig != "" && err == nil {
+			actrcXdg = foundConfig
+			break
+		}
 	}
 
 	return []string{
-		filepath.Join(home, ".actrc"),
+		filepath.Join(home, configFileName),
 		actrcXdg,
-		filepath.Join(".", ".actrc"),
+		filepath.Join(".", configFileName),
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index e7ae54c38ec..eb63e719954 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ go 1.18
 require (
 	github.com/AlecAivazis/survey/v2 v2.3.6
 	github.com/Masterminds/semver v1.5.0
+	github.com/adrg/xdg v0.4.0
 	github.com/andreaskoch/go-fswatch v1.0.0
 	github.com/creack/pty v1.1.18
 	github.com/docker/cli v23.0.1+incompatible
@@ -55,7 +56,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/klauspost/compress v1.15.12 // indirect
 	github.com/mattn/go-colorable v0.1.13 // indirect
 	github.com/mattn/go-runewidth v0.0.14 // indirect
-	github.com/mgutz/ansi v0.0.0-20200706080929-d51e80ef957d // indirect
+	github.com/mgutz/ansi v0.0.0-20170206155736-9520e82c474b // indirect
 	github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure v1.1.2 // indirect
 	github.com/moby/sys/sequential v0.5.0 // indirect
 	github.com/moby/term v0.0.0-20200312100748-672ec06f55cd // indirect
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index d141e7a6459..f2107fe20f9 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ github.com/ZauberNerd/go-git/v5 v5.4.3-0.20220315170230-29ec1bc1e5db h1:b0xyxkCQ
 github.com/ZauberNerd/go-git/v5 v5.4.3-0.20220315170230-29ec1bc1e5db/go.mod h1:U7oc8MDRtQhVD6StooNkBMVsh/Y4J/2Vl36Mo4IclvM=
 github.com/acomagu/bufpipe v1.0.3 h1:fxAGrHZTgQ9w5QqVItgzwj235/uYZYgbXitB+dLupOk=
 github.com/acomagu/bufpipe v1.0.3/go.mod h1:mxdxdup/WdsKVreO5GpW4+M/1CE2sMG4jeGJ2sYmHc4=
+github.com/adrg/xdg v0.4.0 h1:RzRqFcjH4nE5C6oTAxhBtoE2IRyjBSa62SCbyPidvls=
+github.com/adrg/xdg v0.4.0/go.mod h1:N6ag73EX4wyxeaoeHctc1mas01KZgsj5tYiAIwqJE/E=
 github.com/andreaskoch/go-fswatch v1.0.0 h1:la8nP/HiaFCxP2IM6NZNUCoxgLWuyNFgH0RligBbnJU=
 github.com/andreaskoch/go-fswatch v1.0.0/go.mod h1:r5/iV+4jfwoY2sYqBkg8vpF04ehOvEl4qPptVGdxmqo=
 github.com/anmitsu/go-shlex v0.0.0-20161002113705-648efa622239 h1:kFOfPq6dUM1hTo4JG6LR5AXSUEsOjtdm0kw0FtQtMJA=
@@ -127,9 +129,8 @@ github.com/mattn/go-isatty v0.0.17 h1:BTarxUcIeDqL27Mc+vyvdWYSL28zpIhv3RoTdsLMPn
 github.com/mattn/go-isatty v0.0.17/go.mod h1:kYGgaQfpe5nmfYZH+SKPsOc2e4SrIfOl2e/yFXSvRLM=
 github.com/mattn/go-runewidth v0.0.14 h1:+xnbZSEeDbOIg5/mE6JF0w6n9duR1l3/WmbinWVwUuU=
 github.com/mattn/go-runewidth v0.0.14/go.mod h1:Jdepj2loyihRzMpdS35Xk/zdY8IAYHsh153qUoGf23w=
+github.com/mgutz/ansi v0.0.0-20170206155736-9520e82c474b h1:j7+1HpAFS1zy5+Q4qx1fWh90gTKwiN4QCGoY9TWyyO4=
 github.com/mgutz/ansi v0.0.0-20170206155736-9520e82c474b/go.mod h1:01TrycV0kFyexm33Z7vhZRXopbI8J3TDReVlkTgMUxE=
-github.com/mgutz/ansi v0.0.0-20200706080929-d51e80ef957d h1:5PJl274Y63IEHC+7izoQE9x6ikvDFZS2mDVS3drnohI=
-github.com/mgutz/ansi v0.0.0-20200706080929-d51e80ef957d/go.mod h1:01TrycV0kFyexm33Z7vhZRXopbI8J3TDReVlkTgMUxE=
 github.com/mitchellh/go-homedir v1.1.0 h1:lukF9ziXFxDFPkA1vsr5zpc1XuPDn/wFntq5mG+4E0Y=
 github.com/mitchellh/go-homedir v1.1.0/go.mod h1:SfyaCUpYCn1Vlf4IUYiD9fPX4A5wJrkLzIz1N1q0pr0=
 github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure v1.1.2 h1:fmNYVwqnSfB9mZU6OS2O6GsXM+wcskZDuKQzvN1EDeE=