diff --git a/deploy/hub/backup.sh b/deploy/hub/backup.sh
index 3d09555..c1090f7 100644
--- a/deploy/hub/backup.sh
+++ b/deploy/hub/backup.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,11 @@
 #                           -> ./backups/gti_fiscal_releases_YYYYmmdd_HHMMSS.tgz  (release binaries + AgentRelease metadata is IN the dump above)
 set -eu
 COMPOSE="docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml --env-file .env"
+# BACKUP_DIR (like every other setting) lives in .env, but --env-file only
+# feeds the container — a plain shell script never gets it unless it loads
+# the file itself. Without this, BACKUP_DIR silently falls back to ./backups
+# here while the Hub's containers still read the real value from .env.
+if [ -f .env ]; then set -a; . ./.env; set +a; fi
 DIR="${BACKUP_DIR:-./backups}"
 mkdir -p "$DIR"
 STAMP="$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)"
diff --git a/deploy/hub/restore.sh b/deploy/hub/restore.sh
index 06af616..373aebc 100644
--- a/deploy/hub/restore.sh
+++ b/deploy/hub/restore.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ set -eu
 [ $# -eq 1 ] || { echo "usage: $0 <backup.dump>" >&2; exit 2; }
 FILE="$(basename "$1")"
 COMPOSE="docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml --env-file .env"
+# See backup.sh: BACKUP_DIR lives in .env, which --env-file only feeds to
+# the container, not to this shell script.
+if [ -f .env ]; then set -a; . ./.env; set +a; fi
 [ -s "${BACKUP_DIR:-./backups}/$FILE" ] || { echo "backup not found in ${BACKUP_DIR:-./backups}: $FILE" >&2; exit 1; }
 printf "This REPLACES the current Hub database with %s. Type RESTORE to continue: " "$FILE"
 read -r answer
diff --git a/deploy/hub/restore_releases.sh b/deploy/hub/restore_releases.sh
index 74b0f31..c97e5c4 100644
--- a/deploy/hub/restore_releases.sh
+++ b/deploy/hub/restore_releases.sh
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ set -eu
 [ $# -eq 1 ] || { echo "usage: $0 <releases_backup.tgz>" >&2; exit 2; }
 FILE="$(basename "$1")"
 COMPOSE="docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml --env-file .env"
+# See backup.sh: BACKUP_DIR lives in .env, which --env-file only feeds to
+# the container, not to this shell script.
+if [ -f .env ]; then set -a; . ./.env; set +a; fi
 [ -s "${BACKUP_DIR:-./backups}/$FILE" ] || { echo "backup not found in ${BACKUP_DIR:-./backups}: $FILE" >&2; exit 1; }
 printf "This REPLACES the current release-storage contents with %s. Type RESTORE to continue: " "$FILE"
 read -r answer